2012-- What was your highlight?

[ajfelice]

Canada's Wonderland.

 

How could I overlook this park for so many years when it's barely over 3hrs from Erie, Pa. Leviathan lit the fire under my butt to get there, but the entire park experience was excellent. This park has a perfect mix of atmosphere and rides. Hell, they even proved how a TOGO stand-up can be enjoyable. There will be many return visits in the future.

 

Additionally, can't forget first coaster rides of the season. Took two solo backseat rides on Ravine Flyer II during preseason testing. Finally had the coaster that started it all, all to myself. (I became an enthusiast when they started seriously talking about this coaster in 1999)

Edited November 2, 2012 by ajfelice

[cfc]

ERT at Hong Kong Disneyland.

 

 

 

(EDIT to add: Yeah, and that High Fiver, too.)

 

I'll concur with this, Bill--ERT at a Disney park is special, indeed (as is the High Five).

[matteocrepaldi]

I think 2012 was pretty great for me; I had a chance to ride all the major new attractions in Europe: Swarm, Shambhala, Wodan, Oziris and Divertical!

 

Here's some highlight:

- ERT on The Swarm at Thorpe Park with the European Coaster Club.

- Missing my flight back from London because of the ride on the London Eye.

- A French guy tried to steal my front seat on Oziris!

- The night spent on a bus on my way to Europa Park.

- Getting an invitation for Divertical Media Day.

- Noche Blanca event at Port Aventura!

- Insane Coaster Wars shooting at Mirabilandia!

[JonnyRCT3]

Finally riding the Dragster.

And only a 25min wait.

[Arrow Dynamics fan]

My highlights were the following:

 

1. Attending Cedar Point for the first time: At Cedar, I experienced Maverick, Millennium Force, Magnum XL-200, and Top Thrill Dragster, which at least 3 of them are on my top ten list. Most of the rest did well except for Mean Streak. All in all, I would go back to Cedar Point any time.

 

2. Attended King's Island for the second time and got to re-ride my all-time favorite Vortex and Flight Deck (which is also on my top ten list) numerous times as well as the Beast and many other of their coasters except for kiddie rides and Invertigo (once from last time was enough).

 

3. Attended Worlds of Fun to finally experience Prowler which was very good. Got to re-ride the Mamba and Patriot for comparisons to other coasters. Reaffirmed the Timber Wolf's position on my list and the Boomerang was closed that day which wouldn't have been ridden again anyhow. Once was enough for a lifetime.

 

4. Got to experience Mr. Freeze Reverse Blast and enjoyed it at SFSTL as well as re-riding my favorites. And got to have some last couple memories of the park before our skyline is blighted by the image of the coaster I hate the most.

[adavis]

1. Fastlane at Cedar Point. This, to me, was as good or better than a new coaster.

 

2. Riding Skyrush the night before it opened, truly an amazing ride.

 

3. Finally getting on I-305.

 

4. Riding Apollo's Chariot with my daughter, it is her new favorite coaster over Millennium Force. Now that she is 54", next year is going to be interesting...

[BenFreeze]

- Riding X-Flight at SFGAm

- Riding my first flying coaster

- Riding Mr. Freeze Reverse Blast

- Visiting WOF during Haunt for the first time

[RoCo]

First, great idea for a thread topic. Second, I had a bunch of awesome highlights, but certainly among the very top few was the Water Challenge at SFOG/Deep South Bash on the Georgia Cyclone. I was laughing so hard, I thought I would rupture an organ. Damn, that was fun, and the beers before certainly helped.

 

And then ERT on Goliath after? That was a good night.

[Double0Kevin]

Finishing my first Half-Marathon which happened to be the Disneyland Half-Marathon. That was top.

 

Still more to come with my first visit to Orlando coming up in 3 weeks. That will probably take over as my top 2012 moment.

[canobie#1]

Mine was being the first one in Islands of Adventure and riding deuling dragons alone front row 3x in a row, then hulk alone front row2x. First rider of the day last month.

[Voxelmatic]

Mine would be riding Thunderhawk five times in the back row, all alone. Crazy fun!

 

(Oh, also 100th coaster! Yay!)

[almightyfire]

Riding Maverick.

[Tanks4me05]

My highlight was probably all of New Hotness in general. That was epic. But sadly as I don't have my mechanical engineering degree yet, it'll probably be my last TPR tour for a few years thanks to the monetary requirements.

[Jhcbiinoc]

There were a few significant ones:

 

-Wild Eagle Opening/Season Pass Preview Weekend at Dollywood, and my first visit to that park; it was great to meet up and hang out with all of the TPR people who were there!

-Several great visits to SFOG and Dollywood

-Metro Atlanta Coaster Club event at Dollywood in May with night ERT on Wild Eagle

-Deep South Bash-another awesome event

-Riding Goliath last Sunday in the freezing cold on SFOG last day of the season last Sunday

 

I still have one more trip this year to Dollywood either later this month or the week of December 10th.

 

Although there were a few planned trips I had to cancel due to the issues with my parents' health (missed out on Carowinds and a visit to LA parks), overall, this has been an awesome year as I have gotten accustomed to living in the Southeastern US and some of the excellent parks and attractions here.

 

Looking forward to 2013-*hopefully* I will be able to do West Coast Bash and get my SFMM and Knott's fix, and I also tentatively am planning to get to at least two new for 2013 coasters, (Outlaw Run and Gatekeeper) in addition to enjoying more of SFOG and Dollywood.

[tylercolby83]

Mine was getting to play Tour Guide / Decision Maker for my family's vacation. We did all of Disney and Universal in five days. I hadn't been to Orlando since I did the College Program in 06. The Harry Potter ride was really amazing.

 

Another highlight was spending an entire day at Holiday World's Splashin' Safari for the first time. Their water park is so cool.

[triggernel]

Finally getting to take my brother to Kings Island; our night ride on the Beast together is something I will never forget. My first night ride on it was one of the highlights of my life at his age, and getting to spend a day out there together capped off by THE Best Night Ride in the World was more special than getting to ride any credit in a faraway land.

[CoasterRollin]

First weekend of August was mine:

 

On Friday August 3rd, I went to Knoebels for the first time. Obviously popping my Phoenix cherry was a glorious experience. Had to be one of the most insane an hilarious moments in my life when the damn thing tried to throw me out of my seat. With no seatbelts, it definitely felt like I was going up and wasn't going to come back.

 

On Saturday, I went to Dorney and the Drum Corps International Eastern Classic in Allentown.

 

On Sunday, I went to Hersheypark and rode Skyrush for the first time. Got to ride it 3 times (fairly large crowd), once in the front, somewhere in the middle, and once in the back. What a furious ride.

[Kyle Coleman]

Knotts day at wcb and doing halloween horror nights hollywood vip style.

[Yamez]

Marathoning I305 for a whole day in the spring was pretty awesome. I also really enjoyed the time I was able to spend at Busch Gardens Williamsburg this year. The park really is beautiful, and Verbolten is a stellar addition to their lineup.

[RCT3Bross]

2012 had two big highlight for me.

1. Aquanura: The new water show was amazing to see in real life, and I still have to see it at night. A great show that I surely wish to see more often when I'm there.

2. Heide-Park: The vised to Heide-park was a good one. Three rides made my whole day Scream, Krake and off coarse Colossos. It was a great park with some rides I never had done before. But I will not go to the park before they add more decant rides.

This made my 2012.

[Athletekim]

1. Going to Hersheypark last weekend and then heading over to the Hershey Bears game a few hours later. Got to experience the 2 things I love the most Hockey, and Roller Coasters! I also got to experience my first ever launched coaster, Storm Runner and it was amazing!!

 

2. Finally returning to Knoebels after not being there for a few years and riding Phoenix and Twister for the 1st time! Phoenix became my #1 wooden coaster due to me getting scared thinking I was about to be thrown out of my seat.

 

3. Dragging my friend onto the Boomerang in Wildwood, NJ for her first ever upside coaster.

[Anac0nda]

My highlight was our 4-day trip to Sweden, Gröna Lund and Liseberg Twister, Insane, Fritt Fall Tilt, Lisebergbanan, Balder and the primal AtmosFEAR, which currently sits on top of my best rides -list

[VinTheAttendant]

1. My last ride on Jaws. It was incredibly sad, but I was so happy to get one last ride on it to give it its proper farewell (one day before its closure).

 

2. Skyrush! I don't care if the restraints tried to kill me, it really is one of my favorite coasters of all time now.

 

3. Walking by Hersheypark's karaoke booth and watching a snippet of Pier's "Born This Way" performance! Link

 

4. Goliath at Six Flags New England: The first coaster I rode in two different locations within one year. Also, getting to ride it before it opened to the public.

 

5. Going to a rather empty Six Flags Great Adventure in the middle of summer.

 

6. A trip to Coney Island using only public transit.

 

7. 200 credits milestone on Steeplechase at Scream Zone.

 

8. FINALLY witnessing a Kingda Ka rollback. I still have to get myself on one.

 

EDIT: 9. Riding the oldest carousel in America

Edited November 3, 2012 by VinTheAttendant

[David H]

With my crazy epic Asia trip this year, there were too many highlights to narrow it down to just one. But if I was forced to pick on, it would probably be the epic TPR takeover of the insane Tagada ride at Floraland. I haven't laughed that hard in years.

[cfc]

^There are a lot of highlights from that trip--the Tagada is another good one.