Reality15 Posted March 22, 2011 Posted March 22, 2011 (edited) We've been contemplating starting a thread on here for a while (and when I say we, I mean me. I don't think she really understands what a "Theme Park Review" is yet), but the day has finally come! Jon & Kara's CHEEZIE PARK ADVENTURES have finally made it big time: a thread on Theme Park Review! Now you can enjoy all of the pictures and videos from our crazy adventures to ride roller coasters and eat delicious food. Who are we? Well, obviously we're Jon and Kara, two young coaster enthusiasts with a goal of traveling around the country (and hopefully the world someday) to ride the best coasters and eat the best food we can find. ...Alright, let's be honest here, I'm the coaster enthusiast, she's just along for the ride, and while she'll ride anything once, it usually stops there. But, I digress... We might not take a lot of trips every year, nor are they very big trips, but the adventure is most of the fun. We've had some good times at parks, and some where we spend more time in the bar watching football than actually riding rides (I'm looking at YOU, Valleyfair). Now we have a way to show you just what happens on these crazy adventures. ================================================== A lot of our photos can be found on Flickr at a higher resolution. If the image is clickable, that means a better quality and larger image can be found on Flickr, and the image will link you to it. Just another way we go above and beyond the competition! ================================================== Upcoming Adventures: "MooseXpo" ~ Canada's Wonderland - May 14 and 15 ~ Kokomo's Family Fun Center - May 15 "Dear baby Jesus... where are my teeth?" ~ Cedar Point - June 3 ~ Kings Dominion - June 4 ~ Carowinds - June 5 "CornCon II" ~ Indiana Beach - July "You mean we have to go through Ohio?" ~ Waldameer - TBD And other unannounced adventures to Michigan's Adventure, Cedar Point and Six Flags Great America ================================================== Completed Adventures: "The Quest for Blue Ice Cream" ~ Kings Island - May 25 and 26, 2010 "Corn Con I" ~ Indiana Beach - July 11, 2010 "Valleyfest" ~ Nickelodeon Universe - October 1, 2010 ~ Valleyfair - October 2, 2010 ~ Mount Olympus - October 3, 2010 "Spring Break at Hogwarts" ~ SeaWorld Orlando - March 7, 2011 ~ Islands of Adventure - March 8, 2011 ~ Busch Gardens Tampa - March 9, 2011 ~ Universal Studios Florida - March 10, 2011 Edited April 10, 2011 by Reality15
Reality15 Posted March 22, 2011 Author Posted March 22, 2011 Our first official trip of 2010 was originally going to be an epic Canada's Wonderland / Kings Island trip, but because we love the place so much, we decided on just spending two days at Kings Island instead. Because of that, this trip earned the name... THE QUEST FOR BLUE ICE CREAM The trip started as most of ours do: leaving the amazing road conditions of Michigan and entering the fresh air of Ohio (even if you leave the state from the other corner, you get to go through the amazing city of Gary, Indiana, so you can't win). Joining us on this trip is Amanda, self-proclaimed ACE mockery master and resident "grown up kid" of our little group. Jon: "Hey look, we're here! And it's the southern Ohio home of Dick Kinzel!" Amanda: "I'm not so sure that's a good thing..." Kings Island definitely has a great first-impression upon walking in with the royal fountains and the Eiffel Tower at the end of the street. First ride of the trip is always Adventure Express, one of my personal guilty pleasures (come on, the lifthill to nowhere is the best thing ever), but it's always followed by Racer, or as we called it, the Not-So-Racer, for in all of the times I've been to the park, not once have I seen both sides operating at the same time. If you want, I can save you the pain of riding Vortex. For the low price of $20, I will come to your door and beat you with a coat-hanger. I call it the Ron Toomer treatment. Call it over-rated all you want, but the Beast is just one of those rides that when you jump on it in the dark, it just rocks your world. I could ride the Beast all night long. I like it rough with a lot of people I know. Nothing's better than the howl as you pound the curves. ...too much? Finally, the reason we took this entire trip (well, other than Diamondback and Adventure Express), BLUE ICE CREAM! There it is, heaven in a bowl. Blue ice cream is the greatest thing to ever come out of the Smurfs, and most importantly the best food you'll find in a Cedar Fair park that doesn't cost $15*. * - Price does not include drink, napkins, or condiments. Additions available at gift shop for $5 each. Kara's first time having blue ice cream resulted in... well, I don't really know what this face means. Maybe "I like ice cream but the camera is freakin' annoying"? Amanda prefers the more sarcastic approach to eating it, where you don't even touch it until the jerk with the camera stops taking pictures. I prefer the "one bite followed by blueberry brain freeze where Smurfs appear in front of you from the pain" approach. Kings Island also added a new roller coaster in 2009 (for those of you who haven't heard, of course) called Diamondback. It's based off the popular adult film "Diamond's Back" but Cedar Fair didn't use that to promote it for some reason (I think it has to do with the Paramount licensing). Diamondback is truly an amazing coaster, and while I can make fun of it all I want, it's easily one of the best steel coasters I've ever ridden. I can never get enough Diamondback. Luckily, on the second day, early ride time (you know, one of the AMAZING perks of the ever popular Club TPR that you should go join right now) let us get about 6 or 7 rides in without getting off, as well as a couple on the Beast. Did I mention that if you join Club TPR (make sure to mention that Jon sent you!) and participate in early morning ride time, you get to hang out with the two hotties in the front seat?** ** - Hotties vary by day and availability. May be substituted for gravy-loving ACErs And now, for this TR's edition of "Why the HELL do you look like that?" Our first contestant, Mr. Mullet! Did someone forget to turn off the Married with Children re-runs and drive you to the barber? Contestant #2, Ms. Dayum My Feet Hurt! This might be worse than sandals with so- nope. Nevermind, still not as bad as that. And finally, contestant #3, Mr. I- HEY WAIT, THAT'S ME! In all my years going to Kings Island, I had never been up in the Eiffel Tower (probably thanks to my extreme fear of falling). That was all about to change. Whatever this is, it doesn't exist. Move along. Ooooooh, pretty... ...ooooooh, not so pretty! See that thing behind the bent coat-hanger? No? Look harder, it's disguised as a really tall tree with no leaves. Yes, yes, I know this is here, but I just don't care. Maybe someday when someone can figure out how to run one of these efficiently I'll enjoy it, but until then, let's just forget these ever happened. Sorry, Ohio doesn't allow you to improve the state by throwing crap off tall objects. Though if you throw it out the window while driving, they'll mail you a nice thank you letter. Down in Planet Snoopy, the girls enjoy a moment with some furries. But then Kara found her arch-nemesis, the Evil Dr. Snoopy. No one knows just what he did to piss her off, but whatever he did he's going to pay for it eventually. ...I think I just found out what he did to piss her off... Seems to be the Cedar Fair policy. Sorry for the massive amount of ride photos in the TR. Next time I'll try taking pictures of bushes and manhole covers instead. I promise, this is the last roller coaster photo of this update that you'll have to see (or, if you didn't get enough, there's a link down there to see more!) Early on day two, Amanda somehow stumbled into an employee tour group and felt right at home. Then Kara joined, and somehow it felt like they had done this before at a different park... Handy technology, this little bit of text on a park map. Now if only they could do that on the one I have in my pocket... No trip to Kings Island would be complete without the sighting of BIG BUTTER JESUS! Sadly, Big Butter Jesus burned down less than a month later on June 15, 2010. Kings Island will never be the same. Well, THAT'S IT! Our first adventure here on Theme Park Review. Hope you enjoyed reading it as much as we enjoyed doing it (get your mind out of the gutter, you pervert). Didn't get enough pictures? Check out the Flickr set of photos from the "Quest for Blue Ice Cream" Until next time, -Jon and Kara
Big Mike Posted March 22, 2011 Posted March 22, 2011 I am so happy that I get to see your adventures!! Doing a great job my friend! Of course, also enjoy checking out Kara too I want some blue ice cream now! Peace, Big Mike
Reality15 Posted March 23, 2011 Author Posted March 23, 2011 Thanks, guys! My goal is to do one update a week until summer hits, then I'll start doing them as I take them and have the time to post them (not very often, but whatever). I am also pleased to announce that we're in talks with Big Mike Productions to do a meet-up in early June. As soon as we get final dates and confirmation from his production team we'll post it here. "CornCon I" will be up next Sunday. -Jon (& Kara, somewhere)
Big Mike Posted March 23, 2011 Posted March 23, 2011 I just told the production team to do whatever possible to make sure that they keep that date clear so I can come see you guys!! These guys are cut throat on the production team, I just about had to say I would go on strike so I could go to West Coast Bash and visit friends, they wanted me to do an interview on The View instead. Peace, Big Mike
Reality15 Posted March 30, 2011 Author Posted March 30, 2011 (edited) Well, it's a few days later than I anticipated, but the next of Jon & Kara's CHEEZIE PARK ADVENTURES takes us to the land of... well, corn! And because of that, our first annual trip to Indiana Beach could only be named one thing... CORNCON I We're lucky enough to live within a day's drive of Indiana Beach, what was once one of my least favorite parks in the world and is now one of my favorite. Sure, they may not be the best looking or best operated park in the world, but it's a one-of-a-kind experience that everyone has to do at least once. As always, if you can click on the picture, it will take you to the full resolution image to download to your computer and do who knows what with it. Welcome to Indiana Beach! Home of corn, coasters, corn, some awesome flat rides over water, corn, an awesome classic midway game, and more corn! Hoosier Hurricane is the park's largest wooden coaster, and was running surprisingly well compared to my first visit. The ride itself is still very "meh", but it's not as bad as a Dinn. From up in the ferris wheel (excuse me, GONDOLA wheel), you can see pretty much the entire park. If you can't keep track of what's what because there's so much track and rides in the picture: don't worry, neither can they. Brock, Josh and Kali making their first appearance on Jon & Kara's CHEEZIE PARK ADVENTURES, showing off the lovely photography rules Indiana Beach has: none. And with that notice, I immediately feel 100% safer riding the ferris wheel. Thanks to that lovely sign, I spent the rest of the ride gripping the center of the gondola for dear life. Indiana Beach is known as one of those parks with some great opportunities to get right up close to the rides. No really, RIGHT UP CLOSE. Good thing this is taken right next to the bathroom! Unfortunately for the others, Lost Coaster of Superstition Mountain was closed. I was very willing to kick them repeatedly to give a similar experience, but no one took me up on the offer. At the time, I thought this was the second best park food in the world (second to Cesari's at Knoebel's). It now ranks third as Mythos has surpassed it, but it's still the best value park food you could ever find. Five tacos? Two cents. Ten tacos? They give you a dollar. Sounds a bit like Taco Bell to me. Indiana Beach is home to several coasters. The two big wooden coasters sit on top of each other, also on top of the midway, parking lot, a house, kiddieland, and some restaurant. Confused yet? We are too... After a terrible ride on Cornball Express back in 2006, I was reluctant to try it again. Needless to say, it was running good enough that I couldn't get enough of this thing. My tip? Ride in the "PTC Seat" otherwise known as the front row of the last car. Airtime heaven! No trip to Indiana Beach would be complete without a few rounds of Fascination. We all absolutely loved it, but made a break for it when a couple of hardcore coaster enthusiasts came in to play. How do I know they were hardcore? They had socks, sandals, and gravy. If that doesn't prove it, then perhaps the vintage Banshee t-shirt does. Note to the kids reading at home: fashion rules still apply, even at amusement parks. Kara and Jessi (also making her first appearance) survived the Tig'rr coaster. The ride was formerly named the Roy Horn Experience, but renamed after the incident in Vegas. Neither Kara nor Jessi had problems with this Tig'rr. (And don't worry, there's plenty more jokes that aren't politically correct or funny coming up soon) Of course, the real reason for going to Indiana Beach is for their newest coaster, STEEL HAWG! While it may not be the favorite in the coaster world, Steel Hawg was definitely the favorite amongst CornCon attendants. Definitely one of the coolest little coasters out there, and we all really wished there could be more of these to ride. Josh seems to have liked it, but Brock... well, he's contemplating whether or not he peed himself in excitement. Hey look, it's a frog! But not any frog... this frog we have officially dubbed the PEDO FROG! After a long, fun day at Indiana Beach, it was time to head home and start planning CornCon II this upcoming July. The group (minus myself), with five new guest appearances on the CHEEZIE PARK ADVENTURES! If you haven't been to Indiana Beach, you need to. Ask me a year ago today and I would have said the exact opposite, but after CornCon my opinion of the place has been flipped like a ride on Steel Hawg. Best to get out soon, as it sounds like the management is making some changes to things and it may not be the same for much longer. I'll leave this Trip Report with one final image, the most epic image in all of the CHEEZIE PARK ADVENTURES. With all of us being (or formerly being) employees at parks, we've walked away with great hand signals. Josh decides to drive over the cement parking space, causing Zach to call a hold to stop the ride unit from moving. Unfortunately for him, Josh had already called an e-stop due to a Brock in the ride's track. Epic? You bet your ass it is. Didn't get enough CornCon photos from Indiana Beach? Check out the Flickr set for more! Until next time, -Jon and Kara Edited April 10, 2011 by Reality15
Big Mike Posted March 31, 2011 Posted March 31, 2011 Enjoyed it once again! Looking forward to more of course. Peace, Big Mike
Reality15 Posted April 10, 2011 Author Posted April 10, 2011 Thanks Derek and Big Mike. Just because you guys are awesome, I'll post more. Late last year, I realized that Kara had yet to go on a GCI wooden coaster and had a pretty negative view of wooden coasters in general (if all you had ridden was rides like Son of Beast and Mean Streak, you would too). In addition, I really wanted to check out Nick Universe after hearing great things about all of the different rides, so a trip up to Minnesota was born, called... VALLEYFEST 2010 Since this trip was SO 1337 (words can't even describe the epic-osity of this trip), I'm going to have to split it up into three parts, starting off with... SUPERDAWG and NICK UNIVERSE! I'm a big fan of local food specialties, hot dogs being my favorite. Our local hot dog shop, Yesterdog, had what I considered the best hot dogs in the world, and Superdawg wanted to challenge that. (As always, if you can click on a picture, click it for SUPER HD RESOLUTION!) Superdawg is a drive-in restaurant on the north side of Chicago, and should be a must-stop for ANYONE who likes to eat (like this fat kid). Of course, they are famous for their Superdawgs, a Chicago-style hot dog. Yes, I know, I wish I could eat my screen right now too, but unfortunately you don't have a USB flavor adapter to make it taste the same. From now on, every time I go to Chicago, I'm going to Yesterdog. And you should too. Well, unless you live in Chicago, then you should probably just be at Yesterdog 24/7/365, because, let's be honest, it's better than oxygen, and about as essential for life. Next stop on the road to Valleyfest 2010 was in the Wisconsin Dells to check out Timber Falls and HellCat. Yet, for some reason, HellCat is CLOSED! This should have been sign #1 to turn around and go home. Continuing on, we get to Nick Universe, home of this kickass little coaster, Spongebob Squarepants Rock Bottom Plunge (say that five times fast! ...now say it again... don't give me that sass, maybe I have a lisp. Yeah, you just made fun of a kid with a lisp, how does that make you feel? ...alright, I don't really have a lisp, but I still hope you feel bad). This picture describes our attitude starting out the trip at Nick Universe. Unfortunately, in less than 24 hours, all of that would change forever. But first, a quick game of "Which of these is a cartoon character?" Through the wonders of my camera, we go from Amanda eating dinner with a strange mexican torso... To nighttime at an indoor amusement park! Oooooooooh! Aaaaaaaaaaaaaah! (See that, I just Harry Pottered that right there. Eat your heart out, Wizarding World) Nick Universe is really a beautiful, colorful and fun park. And it gets even better at night. If you haven't ridden the new sensation the Unicoaster, you real- YES, I KNOW IT SAYS BRAIN SURGE, MAYBE I WAS TRYING TO EXPLAIN THE RIDE FIRST! ...alright, sorry I got angry. Sometimes I just lose my temper. It's okay now. Cookies for everyone. But yeah, check this thing out as soon as possible. And, see if you can do what we call, the... ULTIMATE BRAIN SURGE RIDE! Step 1 - Get on Brain Surge Step 2 - Strap yourself in and hope they dispatch the ride promptly Step 3 - Once circular motion starts, let the ride get fully up to speed Step 4 - Do one full forward flip Step 5 - Without stopping, do one full backward flip Step 6 - Repeat steps 4 and 5 until you make a strange puddle on the platform This, well... this was okay. I didn't see the fun in it. Maybe I'm just not a spinny kind of person. And this... well, this is a swing ride. That's about it. Moving on... So yeah, that's about it for Nick Universe. There's lots of other rides and stuff, but I spent most of the time actually riding and not taking pictures. Hope you enjoyed it, Valleyfest 2010 Part 2 is coming up next. Didn't get enough Nick Universe pictures? There's a couple more in the Flickr set. Until next time, -Jon (Kara's in her cage for the night)
Big Mike Posted April 10, 2011 Posted April 10, 2011 Boo for Hell Cat not being open!! Yay for the following picture!!
samisthabomb Posted April 10, 2011 Posted April 10, 2011 Superdawg looks amazing. Looking forward to the next update
DiSab Posted April 10, 2011 Posted April 10, 2011 I was actually at Nick Universe about a year ago, on my way back from South Dakota. Sadly, I didn't get to ride anything since we only had about an hour there, and I didn't want to spend $20 for something I wasn't sure I'd be able to ride (due to being Fat Derek). Looking forward to more. PS - I can't tell which one is the cartoon character, there's too much pink.
Joe Cool Posted April 10, 2011 Posted April 10, 2011 Awesome updates!!! Your pictures of Indiana Beach are getting me really excited for my first trip there in June.
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