rollin_n_coastin Posted June 14, 2012 Share Posted June 14, 2012 (edited) I think a few days passing is long enough for all my internal organs, speech and mental state to return back to normal after what was the most intense day of coaster riding ever for such a phenomenal cause! A huge thank you to Kara with GKTW and Dineen at Canada's Wonderland for organizing such a great event on a beautiful Sunday! A huge thanks as well to the amazing staff at Vortex and Colin and his staff at Behemoth. The entire day was very well done. The upgraded lunch to the Market Place was very much appreciated all by riders judging from our love of Pizza Pizza and all the other awesome stuff! The day sure proved a definite challenge that I think we were all able to meet without too many issues, other than a protein spill or two (but not from Team TPR)! Stomachs of steel we have! Congratulations to the entire Team TPR team at Canada's Wonderland: Nick (odene497), Josh (PCW_Nut), Paul (Carnage), Matt (Mightypotato) and John (Archnemasis). Together, Team TPR raised over $3,100! It was awesome meeting all the other riders from other teams or there on their own to support such a great cause. We were 26 strong and as a park, raised over $7,740 for GKTW, up from $3,700 in 2011! Over the Coasting for Kids weekend, our team slowly trickled in until we were all together on Sunday morning. Nick came in from New York so we found the perfect warm up coaster. Josh joined in on Saturday night to get our hunger worked up. John, Matt and Paul met up with us on Sunday morning, ready to go. Below are some pics of a mellow warm up, appetite adjustment and some more pics from the event this past Sunday. The Warm Up Part 1 - Controlling the Speed First meal at Nando's before the warm up! Tomorrow would be a drive up to... Wasaga beach, but the weather wasn't the greatest so onward to... Blue Mountain Resort up in Collingwood to play mini golf? Nope, but this works. Test seat! It doesn't look like it covers a lot of land. But it covers more than enough. I can't imagine the price being any higher! Cars coming home The line up wasn't too bad given that rain was in the forecast all day. Anxious This moves at a good clip. Carted... awaaaaay we go! Just amazing scenery. This gives a seriously out of control feeling, especially around each helix. Bridge! Brakes please! Edited June 14, 2012 by rollin_n_coastin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rollin_n_coastin Posted June 14, 2012 Author Share Posted June 14, 2012 (edited) The Warm Up Part 2 - Getting up to Height and Speed! Although I don't drink Coors Light, at least it's been helpful here. It's not too high. Ok, the grate floor on the gondola was a bit terrifying. Almost halfway up! Made it! Now, which way to take back down? Yes, trying to ignore that this is both a Coors Light and Pepsi Park If you say so I would pay for this to be Zorbing in the summer! Zorbing? Mountain bike trails. It seems to have a lot more character without snow Zorbing? Coors Light time? At least to get us back down A look at the resort village from the Niagara Escarpment. Being back down means ride 2 of 2! This time, no braking! Noted. Here we go again! A definite "weeee!" Heading into some of the crazy curves. High ropes course! The mid helix of craziness. A look back down the lift. There is some crazy speed on the straightaway before the final helix. and finish! Edited June 14, 2012 by rollin_n_coastin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rollin_n_coastin Posted June 14, 2012 Author Share Posted June 14, 2012 (edited) Warm Up Part 3 - Lunch Buffet Prep! Leaving the resort - what's to eat? Sure it's not open yet, but maybe frozen yogurt isn't the type of stuff we're in need of? That's more like it! After the drive home, Josh, Nick and I headed to Holy Chuck Burgers for the juiciest and heaviest burger ever! Josh is sporting the lovely two grilled cheese bun burger with a Nutella and salted caramel shake. Nick is sporting the classic, signature Holy Chuck burger with a chocolate bacon shake. You'll have to excuse us after all that....have to get ready for the morning! Edited June 14, 2012 by rollin_n_coastin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rollin_n_coastin Posted June 14, 2012 Author Share Posted June 14, 2012 (edited) Now that the weekend warm-up is done, it's time to head to the real deal. Coasting for Kids 2012! All together, Team TPR managed 13 rides on Vortex and 57 rides on Behemoth! Here are some more pics to add to our team's pics on Facebook and in the Coasting for Kids Thread. Thanks to the Crews at Vortex and Behemoth, in particular Colin and Mark, for a fantastic time and keeping us going! After 5pm, we squeezed in a ride on Leviathan and ended the day on Spinnovator (a Calypso spinning ride) just because. Then we all somehow made it home to recover 8:15am and all's well! Just about to go in. We were lined up with Season Pass early entry folks. Ah yes, we lived on Behemoth from 10:45 until 5pm, after Vortex and breakfast. The entire team is here! From left to right: John, Matt, Nick, me, Josh and Paul. Excuse us while we all squeeze into the phone booth.. ...so that we all come out as official Coasting for Kids riders! Did we plan the uniform? Mehbee? Nothing like marathoning Vortex to gain a new appreciation for how forceful and awesome the ride is! The awesome front seat! Team TPR and other happy Coasting for Kids riders! Moving on to Behemoth after breakfast! That empty front row seat that I'm about to take was the official seat of protein spills! No worries because.... Mark and crew kept that seat cleaned and disinfected all day! Not only that, Mark kept us energized at the start and again after lunch right up to the end along with entire Behemoth Crew! Josh takes a brief break to send pics to TPR while we await the second "clean up" Paul, Nick and myself in by far the most forceful seats of the ride. We didn't last here for too long! Nick on his 50th ride with his nemesis, Sledge Hammer, still not working in the background. Paul's taking in the fact that we're almost done! John and Matt used the successful 'same seat' strategy to keep them going right up until the end. Edited June 14, 2012 by rollin_n_coastin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wes Posted June 14, 2012 Share Posted June 14, 2012 Great report! Glad the turnout for GKTW was so awesome. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ernierocker Posted June 14, 2012 Share Posted June 14, 2012 Blue Mountain looks really nice. You guys represented TPR well! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
odene497 Posted June 14, 2012 Share Posted June 14, 2012 What a great weekend! Really glad we went up to Blue Mountain, Ridge Runner is nuts! I had a blast at my first Coasting for Kids event, I can't wait until next year. And I will ride Sledge Hammer one day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coastinmiller Posted June 14, 2012 Share Posted June 14, 2012 Thanks for the good look at Blue Mountain, I was planning on hitting that before Leviathan Bash. Where's that burger place though? The only location I can find is downtown Toronto, is there any more? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PCW_Nut Posted June 14, 2012 Share Posted June 14, 2012 Thanks for the good look at Blue Mountain, I was planning on hitting that before Leviathan Bash. Where's that burger place though? The only location I can find is downtown Toronto, is there any more? ^ That's the only location at the moment. It's at Yonge and St Clair (1450 Yonge Street, Toronto, ON M4T 1Y7 www.holychuckburgers.com/ ). It is well worth the trip to this place. It's a very close battle between Holy Chuck and Five Guys for my favorite burger in Toronto. Jason, thanks for the great TR. I won't repeat anything that Jason has already mentioned except that a huge thank you has to go to Canada's Wonderland and the Behemoth/Vortex crews. They did an amazing job handling the crowds and promoting the event. From the donation box at the front of the queue to the constant announcement for oncoming riders they just promoted GKTW and Coasting for Kids so much! Cannot wait until next years event! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rollin_n_coastin Posted June 14, 2012 Author Share Posted June 14, 2012 Great report! Glad the turnout for GKTW was so awesome. Blue Mountain looks really nice. You guys represented TPR well! Thanks Wes and Eric! Coordinating such an event in two countries was quite the undertaking I'm sure but the results hopefully made it all worth while. Blue is a nice place. Not too big, not too small and within a reasonable drive (2-2.5 hours from the city). Like any resort, be prepared for a good gouging on tourist activities. Each ride on Ridge Runner is $15.00 as an example. I personally loved it! If I could afford it, I'd stay on all day. It's amazing how your perception of value changes when you're immersed in an over-priced atmosphere -- it's just 'normal' Nick, I'm not sure if the Hammer will ever be open for you..lol ^,^^ Oh no, hamburger wars by Josh! The good independents, for the most part are in the city. Some good chains stretch out into the burbs--South Street, Hero, Licks and Five Guys off the top of my head. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PCW_Nut Posted June 14, 2012 Share Posted June 14, 2012 ^,^^ Oh no, hamburger wars by Josh! The good independents, for the most part are in the city. Some good chains stretch out into the burbs--South Street, Hero, Licks and Five Guys off the top of my head. Maybe we need an off topic thread for this? Licks...yuck. lol A call to all locals, lets get Team TPR @ Canada's Wonderland next year to be the biggest and best team ever! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jedimaster1227 Posted June 14, 2012 Share Posted June 14, 2012 Menchies serves dole whip--that's all you need to know! This a great trip report so far! You guys definitely did a great job representing Team TPR at Canada's Wonderland! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gisco Posted June 14, 2012 Share Posted June 14, 2012 Looks like everyone had a great time. Maybe next year even more people will get involved! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PCW_Nut Posted June 15, 2012 Share Posted June 15, 2012 Menchies serves dole whip--that's all you need to know! This a great trip report so far! You guys definitely did a great job representing Team TPR at Canada's Wonderland! Menchies is incredible. Though I've yet to see Dole Whip in our Canadian Locations. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
simaticable Posted June 15, 2012 Share Posted June 15, 2012 Menchies is amazing! There's a couple in North Georgia and one within 10 minutes of my house. Also, great trip report by the way. I need to do one of these trips one day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Meteornotes Posted June 15, 2012 Share Posted June 15, 2012 Excellent report. And I need to visit that burger place! dt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
odene497 Posted June 15, 2012 Share Posted June 15, 2012 ^You'd love it Dave, seriously awesome quality stuff! The burgers just fall apart in your mouth, and as we brought up it's almost like how White Castle's do, but that's for an entirely different reason. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vistaway Posted June 15, 2012 Share Posted June 15, 2012 Great TR! I've never seen Blue Mountain without snow...can't believe how different it looks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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