Texas/Midwest 2013 Tour Mini-Updates!

[rollin_n_coastin]

Sounds like another amazing summer TPR trip! Great updates and what a way to end it with two seriously awesome ERT sessions. It sounds like they even 'almost' rivaled the Knoebles '08 Phoenix closer!

 

Always interesting to hear how Voyage is running in comparison to Hades and other coasters, even it wasn't on the trip. It sounds like not much as changed

 

Couldn't agree more that St. Louis has a great little park. I think it even has a very underrated woodie in The Boss. Next up on the bucket list is without a doubt Outlaw Run. The fact that it has bumped El Toro and Boulder Dash from number one spots on a lot of people's lists means that Yakov and Branson will get another visit soon......very soon I hope! Oh yah, City Museum still looks terrifying and makes any "Challenge Park" look like Chuck E Cheese. Did they add anything new or change anything up since the last visit?

 

So happy to hear that everyone had such a great time on the trip, despite the obstacles. One of the best reasons for TPR trips is that Robb and Elissa are really your honest to goodness hard core advocates of fun. No matter what life, nature, uncooperative people or anything beyond our control throws at a trip, you can bet you'll always get the best end of the deal and more often than not, even better.

[cfc]

Looks like Cedar Point provided the perfect ending to the TPR's Texas/Midwest Trip--and Great America did well, too. Kudos to Robb and Elissa for making all this happen; heck, I wasn't even on the trip, but I really enjoyed the updates on Facebook.

Edited August 11, 2013 by cfc

[Thri!!er]

Sharp pictures, peppered with some pretty cool comments by your side, Robb and of course peppered with awesome atmosphere by you all @ this trip (like always actually...)!

 

So... many THANKS again from my side!

[disneygurlz2s]

Looks like Cedar Point provided the perfect ending to the TPR's Texas/Midwest Trip--and Great America did well, too. Kudos to Robb and Elissa for making all this happen; heck, I wasn't even on the trip, but I really enjoyed the updates on Facebook.

 

Yeah, what Chuck said!

[SuperShawn]

Going back through these updates is already reminding me of some of the highlights: Finally meeting a coaster I couldn't marathon (Hades 360). City Museums completely wrong and injury filled fun. Eating our way around SDC for 16 hours. A last minute trip to the Texas State Fair. Surprise stop at Little America. Disco ERT on Viper Backwards. Maverick ERT (Thanks Kyle and crew it was a blast!). Ending the trip with glow Millennium Force ERT and drinks at TGIFs.

 

A huge thank you to Robb and Elissa for setting up these two weeks of fun. You guys are the best and I can't wait to do another trip next year.

[LoneRider92]

I still can't believe I was sitting in some of those seats at Great America mere hours before you guys were there. And now I'm heading out to Cedar Point tomorrow only a couple of days after TPR dominated the park. D'oh!

 

It looks like it was an amazing trip. A TPR trip is absolutely on my bucket list.

[Carnage]

The CP ERT more than made up for those Six Flags closed rides earlier in the trip. Was an awesome way to end the trip.

 

re: Hades 360, I loved Hades opening year. Still liked it a lot in 2007, though it had gotten rougher. After riding it this year though it's going to drop WAY down my list. The new section was great, but much of the old section was back breakingly bad. And I really like rough aggressive rides.

[mightypotato]

That was an absolutely amazing two weeks. From highlights like Outlaw Run and lowlights like Hades 360, it was so much fun.

[robbalvey]

Some of the reaction photos from my Rider Cam on Hades 360 are priceless!

[SuperShawn]

Those faces sum up the ride experience so well! Reminds me of laughing at all the painful yells we heard while waiting in the station.

[robbalvey]

And here is our video of Hades 360. You should really watch the rider cam starting at 3:54. It's pretty hilarious!

 

[DanM64]

^Lol. Great video! I could feel everyone's pain It's pretty unfortunate that the original sections still run that bad. Hades was great when it was new! I don't think I even have any more desire and go try it again, my back still hurts from the ride I took on it last year. At least the barrell roll looks smooth. It looks like the Midwest Tour was a great time- great job Robb and Elissa! I can't wait to do a TPR trip sometime soon.

[Naina21]

I can feel the pain all over again watching the video.

[cfc]

I remember how rough and horrible Hades was back in 2010; apparently, except for the new inverted bit, nothing has really changed.

[ZeroGravity55]

"I think that airtime hill just pinched my bladder." I think that just about sums up everybodys reaction to that part of the ride!

[DBru]

Great to see that you all had another amazing trip! The Millennium crew and I had an awesome time hosting you guys Friday night and I'm glad we were able to help the trip go out with a bang.

[Thri!!er]

Out-logged (guest-mode;-) watched that great video, in-logged to say thank you, Robb

 

3:54

 

Regards,

Thri!!er

[Meteornotes]

My spine hurts just from watching that video. That made Bandit look good.

 

dt

[Geauga Dog]

I haven't been to the Dells but just by the video I guess the Timberliners didn't improve the ride that much more. I could only watch a part of the rider cam portion as I couldn't bear to watch the agony they were going through on some parts of the ride.

[Aceattack52]

That X-Flight still looks really nice.

[King]

I'm mad I missed this trip. I may quit my job for the next one.

[RoCo]

Great final reports, and yeah, wow, that Hades video offers a lot of... insight... into what looks like a very, very... challenging... ride. Such a shame, because the layout looks so freaking good.

 

But glad to see that The Point wrapped everything up so well. Maveshark. I'm calling it that from now on.

[Erik Johnson]

Wow, talk about a fall from grace. In the first couple of years I would certainly would have called Hades a top 20 ride. I wished that they simply spent the money doing a full retrack instead of a layout change.

Edited August 12, 2013 by Erik Johnson

[Philrad71]

^ I agree...I thought that the new trains and track work might have launched this one back into a Top Ten coaster, but Robb's video and the facial expressions on the riders pretty much sum it up as a coaster that is still a wee bit too rough for the majority - that's too bad, really.

 

I can't believe that I actually didn't mind this ride when we rode it last year before the "refurb". We went into the late night deal where the park re-opened from 10-1:00 AM. It was kinda cool riding it at night in the front seat without the lights on in the tunnel....and the wait times were minimal for everything in the park, including all of the go-carts (which were epic).

 

I suppose a slight "advantage" for me may have been that I had been ummm...imbibing in a few alcoholic beverages at the campground a few hours prior to riding. Perhaps I was a bit loosened up so it didn't quite seem as painful? But then again, we tried the same thing at Kings Island before we rode SoB and it was still the worst wooden coaster experience I have ever encountered to date.

[beatle11]

Finally got a chance to look through this thread today. I would say the biggest surprise of the trip was the Texas State Fair Park. They were really awesome and that Jungle Mouse coaster is completely insane. Little Amerricka were great opening for us, well after the park had closed to the public. Our time at Silver Dollar City was the best park experience I've had ever. Outlaw Run is my new #1 coaster period, ahead of El Toro and I-305. And I definitely have to say I was highly disappointed with Six Flags Over Texas. Yes NTag was closed, but I-Rat was closed too and we still had a great day at Fiesta Texas. I'll have to go back to Texas to get those missed credits and hopefully I'll see some improvement from SFOT.