Photo TR: 27 Parks in 6 Weeks

[MagnumFreak25]

I don't find Mean Streak that rough either, but it is an extremely boring.(Chants "RMC RMC RMC")

[rcdude]

Somehow I had forgotten about this thread, so I just got caught up on reading it. All of the reports are great, as are the pictures. I'm really interested for the upcoming reports, as I love comparing my own opinions to those with the same experiences.

 

I think it's about time I got my own trip report going too.

[BugEyed]

I am so envious of this incredibly extensive trip you've undertaken and enjoying the updates along the way. Your writing style and your candor make for a good read each time.

[rubysparkles]

Thanks for all the positive comments!

 

The next day was the start of the TPR New Hotness tour. It started with a pre-trip expedition to Coney Island in Cincinnati. We only had a short time here, which was fine as it's a very small park. Python was an interesting first coaster for the TPR tour, not great, I didn't really like that my back clicked on one of the elements. I don't remember it being that awful, but looking back at my score I gave it a 2. Maybe I will bump that up to a score of 3.

 

I also got the chance to ride on the ferris wheel, the cycle was a bit long for such a little thing but it was pleasant enough. The cycle probably felt longer than it was because we could hear some of the live entertainment in the park and it wasn't the *best* music I've ever heard.

 

I went on my first Rock-O-Plane, which I absolutely loved, definitely my favourite ride in the park! There was also a ride called The Tempest, which was an enjoyable spinning flat. It took the ride ops a few attempts to stop us so we could unload. Bless.

 

After we left the park, we picked up some of the poor unfortunate souls who didn't have their backs clicked on Python from the airport. Then it was off for dinner. At the time, I thought it was a bit bloody early for food. I secretly hoped for a long drive while other people on the bus started putting 2+2 together. Soon the bus was awash with whispers and the name Stricker's Grove popped up in conversations as we seemed to be going a very strange way back to the hotel. I had heard of the place before and it was somewhere I never thought I would have a chance to visit. This park is usually only open 2 days a year to the public and is mainly used for private events (I'm sure most of you already knew this). We were snuck in with a church group (I avoided the holy water just incase they saw that in burns my flesh) thanks to Robb and Elissa. Everybody was on their best behaviour in the park and minded their "goddamnits" as far as I could see.

 

Teddy Bear and Tornado were both very nice coasters, my preference was Tornado as there was a little bit of airtime on it. Only a little bit and you have to be in the right seats, I'm not prepared enough to have written down where I experienced this airtime. Sorry about that.

 

The visit to Stricker's Grove was such an amazing surprise. I didn't even remember it was in this area! It was such a lovely, clean park too. It almost felt like a movie set of a park as it was used much less frequently than a regular amusement park.

 

Coney Island:

Python - 3

 

Stricker's Grove:

Teddy Bear - 5

Tornado - 6

*crack*

I didn't master the art of the Rock-O-Plane but I had a lot of fun trying to!

I heard a lot of country pop song covers while riding this ferris wheel...

Tornado.

Teddy Bear

2 Coasters 1 Pic

Not the last boob credit on the TPR leg of my trip.

[rubysparkles]

Moving on to Kings Island. We started the day here with some ERT on the new hotness at the park. My first impression of Banshee was that the colour scheme looked even better in person. My favourite colour is purple so I'm definitely a fan of Banshee's aesthetic. I also loved the ride sign, with the smoke effect adding to the atmosphere. Along with the flame and gravestone to commemorate Son of Beast. I know some of you (or most) hated the thing, but I still wish I could've ridden it and seen what all the fuss was about.

 

Concerning the ride, it's got to be one of my favourite B&M inverts. There's some good forces but it is also incredibly re-rideable. This is somewhere in my top 5 B&M inverts. Like I said before though, I may have been influenced by how pretty the damn thing is.

 

The Bat is in the same area and it was a surprisingly fun ride. Probably my favourite example of a suspended coaster (although I never got to ride the infamous Big Bad Wolf).

 

On a side note, I have never been to a park with such high energy ride ops. They were having fun with the announcements and racing to get trains despatched as quickly as possible. It really added to the park's atmosphere and made me enjoy my day there so much. Even though Cedar Point has a better collection of coasters. I probably enjoyed the whole park experience of Kings Island more. I'm sure the ERT definitely helped.

 

I found Diamondback a real surprise. Before this trip I would have to say I had no love for B&M hypers, but between Nitro and Diamondback, I can see why they are so loved by so many. Diamondback was probably the first coaster I followed the construction of, so I was excited to finally get a ride on it. It's a very close call between this and Nitro for my favourite B&M hyper. Maybe the newer style chair positions (and the visibility they give you) and the splashdown give it a slight edge. I did prefer it to Shambhala, which is probably an unusual opinion (it appears I'm full of them).

 

So with Banshee, Bat and Diamondback down, the day was off to a perfect start... Then we hit Beast... I hated it. It was painful and so long and didn't have many elements that I enjoy in wooden coasters. I also wasn't sitting in the front seat. Maybe that first ride I was on a WHEEL SEAT. Who knows? I was genuinely so disappointed and didn't have my hopes high for the night time ERT. I was thinking about skipping it!

 

Now the next part of the story isn't going to be as funny when written down as it was at the time. Truly though, we were laughing about this for the rest of the trip. Maybe you had to be there? In the middle of a painful ride on Flight of Fear, we were just hitting a set of breaks. A mysterious voice with a very unenthusiastic tone was heard through the darkness and sings out "In the fast lane from LA to Tokyo." This meant the second half of the ride we were at least laughing through the pain. When we were getting off the ride we couldn't figure out who this legend of laughter was. Otherwise I think I would have thanked him for the entertainment. This was something that we brought up about 10 times a day on the trip. Unfortunately none of us had the original guy's comic timing.

 

King Island was also my first experience on a Vekoma flyer. The ride wasn't too bad, but the way the seats go back at the beginning made me feel like I was going to have a nosebleed or something. It was so uncomfortable to be in that position until the ride started, so I decided to skip a second ride on it later on.

 

The talk over lunch was really interesting. Especially when they were talking about the TV channel that is broadcast to all the Cedar Fair parks. It seems like they want to make more original content for it (there's a lot of music videos at the moment and some theme park trivia questions). Sounds like the dream job, television production and theme parks combined. I was surprised to hear that the studio is housed at Kings Island too.

 

Still on the topic of lunch, all the parks on the trip seemed to have been talking to each other or maybe have a psychic connection. Every day we had hot dogs, fried chicken, baked beans and macaroni & cheese. I don't think there was one theme park that didn't give us a combination of those four things. Nobody needed to wonder what was for lunch! I wish I'd have kept score on who had the best of each type of food, but I didn't think of it at the time.

 

With a lot of trepidation I followed the others to the dreaded Beast. I was expecting it to get rougher over the day and by night time thought it would be hella painful. I decided if I was going to do it, I was going to do it right. Front seat night ride. I am so glad I went back to see what all the fuss was about. The Beast, front row, at night is one of the best coaster experiences I have ever had. I don't understand how it feels so different at night. Magic? Probably not, but I'm so glad we got night time ERT on it. There's something strange about the feeling in the tunnels, loved that part of it. I got front row twice in the end. The second time was the last ride of the night and we ended up running back to the bus. Luckily, Nathan could run ahead (I'm not that fit, or at all fit) and claim something I had left at guest services.

 

Earlier in the day there had been preferred seating for Kings Island's awesome show Cirque Imagine. Afterwards we even had a Q&A with the cast. There was another surprise in store as the audience was asked who had come the furthest. I reluctantly (for a drama teacher I am easily embarrassed) put my hand up. Hong Kong is pretty far from Ohio, even if I can't tell you exactly how far away it is. The two people from furthest away were given some special edition framed Banshee badges. Awesome! Seriously, as if Kings Island hadn't been amazing to us already, I also got some limited edition merchandise. Something to remind me of one of the best days I had ever spent in a theme park. Banshee bash definitely made me wish I lived in the States so I could get to the bashes throughout the year. The time went by so quickly too, this was the longest day at a park but it didn't feel that way at all. Brilliant day.

 

Kings Island coaster rankings:

Racer - 7

Banshee - 8

The Beast - 7 (5 during the day, 9 at night)

Diamondback - 9

Backlot Stunt Coaster - 5

Flight of Fear - 4

Firehawk - 5

The Bat - 6

Vortex - 4

Invertigo - 5

Flying Aerial Chase - 4

Woodstock Express - 4

Adventure Express - 3 (what the hell even is this thing?)

BANSHEE IS SO PRETTY!!!

I am never going on one of these things.

Inspired by JJ Abrams.

I considered riding this, but didn't make it.

I had forgotten this ride even existed until I looked through my photos. Oops.

I really loved how Banshee looked, okay.

Definitely the coaster I took the most photos of on the entire trip.

4 rides in one photo, nice.

Maybe I took a few too many of this one...

Have you had enough of Banshee yet?

Diamondback was so good, such a fun coaster.

The Beast

Why? This is a coaster I will only ride once and not bother with again even if I come back to the park.

It's a rule, if you're not taking a photo you have to wave at the riders.

More backstage photos of The Beast.

"So much wood." "That's what she said." - someone must have said something along these lines on the walk back.

Diamondback is another very photogenic ride.

Diamondback + train. Yay!

It doesn't look THAT bad. (But it is).

Invertigo.

Flying Ace Aerial Chase

Woodstock Express

3 trains and splashdown on Diamondback.

Vortex

Racer

Firehawk

Just what you wanted... Another picture of Banshee!

From our exclusive viewing point! The perks on this day were amazing.

The ride sign all lit up. It looked so awesome.

[tanthonyam]

I agree, just about all the coasters there are much better at night. Even Vortex and Adventure Express! Seriously though, Vortex is not that bad.

[i<3coasters]

#wheelseat

Great TR, can't wait to see the rest. Surprised night rides on Beast weren't a 10 for you.

[rubysparkles]

Surprised night rides on Beast weren't a 10 for you.

 

-1 for the bruises it left.

[shivtim]

Thanks for the update! I also loved Diamondback. It was surprisingly good - my favorite coaster in the park (sorry, Banshee!).

[rubysparkles]

Thanks for the update! I also loved Diamondback. It was surprisingly good - my favorite coaster in the park (sorry, Banshee!).

 

Banshee is still a great coaster, even when you compare it to other B&M inverts. I haven't ridden every one, but I think I've ridden a lot of the good ones (according to experts) and Banshee is seriously up there. At KI that day there were a lot of Diamondback detractors but I genuinely preferred it to every other B&M hyper, apart from possibly Nitro. It certainly helps that I went in with a positive mindset because the ride ops were running the coasters so well that day.

 

However much I would love to be able to be completely objective in how I rate coasters I find it impossible, I think how well Banshee bash was run was a contributing factor in how highly I ranked all the coasters at KI. I'm only human. I didn't feel like I had as much fun on Shambhala and I still think Apollo's Chariot is one of the most over-rated rides in the world. I wonder how I would feel if I had experienced those rides for the first time as a part of a TPR tour or a bash or with other theme park enthusiasts instead of friends who aren't acquainted with roller coasters as a serious interest.

[rubysparkles]

...and then there was Kentucky! After a tiring, but amazing day at Kings Island, I think everyone found it difficult to get up and make our way to Kentucky Kingdom. I nearly fell asleep in the theme park at one point (the park was nice but you've got to get shut eye while you can on these tours and a picnic bench isn't the worst place to sleep). Understandably I didn't take too many pictures this day.

 

There was some filming done on Thunder Run and Lightning Run that morning that meant we got in a lot of rides on both those coasters. Thunder Run was fun but the PTC restraints always leave me with bruises so after a couple of rides I was done. Lightning Run is a great little coaster, I get the Intamin Megalite comparison even if it's not really got the same feeling. There's parts that are a little odd and jerky but I liked those unexpected sections of track. They made the ride feel more unique. I found the restraints incredibly comfortable, but heard a lot of negative opinions from the taller riders.

 

I decided to go on a drop tower (a very small one) to conquer my fear. It's not conquered but it wasn't that bad. I will still not be going anywhere near any of the 400ft+ drop towers that have opened recently. Pretty sure I would have a heart attack.

 

At one point, while in search of air conditioning, our group went into one of the shops. The lady working there noticed my accent and asked me where I was from. When I told her I'm from London, I swear, she looked at me like I was an alien. Of course, she was incredibly excited because I was from the same island as the great One Direction. She acted like I had some sort of connection to the band. I'm glad she was so happy.

 

That was a pretty weird but not completely astounding event. Luckily, things were only going to get even better when we looked for more air conditioning. This time we found an “Italian” restaurant. There were a bunch of people from the tour in there, lots of people. Lots of people who did not try to help me, who just tried not to laugh as I had one of the weirdest conversations of my life.

 

I'm going to call the guy Mr Kentucky. Mr K was sat at a table alone eating his lunch. I can't remember exactly what he/I said but this is basically what happened. He obviously hears us talking.

 

Mr K: “Where are y'all from?”

Me: “We're from all over the place, some from the US. But other countries too. I'm from England.”

Mr K: “Oh I thought so.”

…

Mr K: “Is it true y'all have that castle over there?”

Me: “Um, which one. We have a lot of castles.”

Mr. K: “Wow, really? Oh my god.”

…

Mr K: “(Points to a mural on the wall that is somewhere in Italy, seeing as it is an Italian restaurant) Is that what England looks like?”

Me: “Um, not really. I think that might be Italy? England isn't that pretty.”

Mr K: “Oh right.”

…

Mr K: “Are the police nice over there?”

Me: “Um, I guess? I think so. I mean, they don't have guns...”

Mr K: “WHAT? What do they have then?”

Me: “Um, batons.”

Mr K: “(Obviously doesn't know what a baton is) Ohhhh.”

Me: “It's like a big stick.”

Mr K: “(Looks even more confused) Right. Ok. I don't want to annoy you anymore, so I'll leave you alone.”

 

He asked other questions, if anyone remembers any of them please remind me because they were amazingly bizarre. I was really trying to not be mean, but it was so difficult not to laugh, especially when I could hear other people around me sniggering away. I definitely would have been sniggering if I was sitting there watching this happen. It was seriously ridiculous.

 

Next up was Beech Bend, which was a really nice small park. We got the best fried chicken of the trip here, if I remember correctly. Met another nice young fellow who was telling me about the dragon coaster there because he overheard me talking about the A Song of Ice and Fire books. He was the ride operator and everything he said must have been true because he told me he owned 5 "Trust me, I'm an engineer" t-shirts. Not just 1 shirt, 5 shirts! How could you NOT trust him to operate a kiddie coaster? Then we headed over to the Wild Mouse, which broke down a couple of times while we were waiting but nothing major. That was a "spinning" mouse, not much spinning and not much left to say about this type of coaster. They're a credit. Yay!

 

The second best ride of the park was probably the pirate ship that was previously owned by Michael Jackson and plays all of his hits. The best was definitely Kentucky Rumbler, which is probably my favourite GCI coaster. TPR had a lot of fun after the park closed on this thing, I participated in the "fat train" to try and break their speed record (I think we did it, right?). There were some weird pictures from the linked arm train, not sure what else they tried up there as I made my way down into the store after about the tenth ride. As soon as I decided I'd had my fill of Kentucky Rumbler, the sky opened up and there was some pretty extreme thunder and lightning that looked so cool! A great end to the day. Most people don't like rainstorms, but it was pretty nice watching it from some rocking chairs in the middle of a theme park.

 

Kentucky Kingdom:

Lightning Run - 8

Thunder Run - 7

Roller Skater - 3

 

Beech Bend:

Dragon - 3

Wild Mouse - 4

Kentucky Rumbler - 8

6 'mericun Flags

No jokes were made about the name of one of these companies.

Thunder Run off in the distance.

Lightning Run!!!

It's so cute looking. And the blue is lovely.

The water park looked nice.

Had to take a picture of my own name!

Beech Bend had a mysterious door. Awesome.

From Neverland Ranch. Still playing MJ's hits.

Kentucky Rumbler.

[rubysparkles]

The night before we got to Holiday World unfortunately Satan's Lodge messed up and gave our rooms away. Luckily we managed to all squeeze into another place a little bit further away from Santa Claus, Indiana. I can't even imagine having to deal with the stress of finding another hotel for so many people on the spot and then re-arrange us all into different rooms. It was all fine and we got to the park the next morning in good spirits.

 

I really loved Holiday World. It was just such a great day. From the beginning, providing us with breakfast and coffee. The most important thing for anyone's morning: coffee. There's also free soft drinks! Bonus. We got on the first ride of The Voyage in the morning. My feelings on the ride are that it's great up until it starts getting really painful near the end. The Raven and Legend were both really enjoyable too. Not quite as epic as The Voyage, but then they were less painful. All the coasters improved at night. Especially the first part of The Voyage before you start getting bruised by the intensity. Front row, The Voyage, night time is close to the greatness of The Beast, but I preferred the later slightly. I have never seen so many stars as from the top of The Voyage's lifthill!

 

We had ERT on the three coasters after closing (which they usually don't do in summer, thanks TPR and Holiday World!!!) but the most amazing thing was ERT on Mammoth and Wildebeest. Both of which are amazing. I am not a water park person, something a lot of people were saying on the trip, but I think everyone was wowed. Probably my favourite ERT on the trip. It's such a unique experience, the magnets and how scary it is that you are not strapped in while you're having the feeling of airtime. You really have to hold on tight. Also the magnets! Propelling you upwards! Through water! So cool! I think I preferred Mammoth because the round boat meant that you didn't really always know which way you were going to go, going from facing forward to facing backwards. They were two of the best rides I've ever been on, Wildebeest is so great in the front too.

 

This day was just awesome! We even got to try the Thanksgiving dinner there and I enjoyed it (needed some dijon mustard though...). Interesting for a non-American. Really filling and good value too. I didn't get too many pictures, and I got none of the water park unfortunately. I also didn't mark the coasters at the time, so these are marks after a couple of months of memory loss.

 

Holiday World

The Voyage - 8 (definitely a 9 at night)

The Raven - 7

The Legend - 7

The Howler - 3

I love all the colourful flags at the tops of the lifthills. So cute.

Got this on the backstage tour. We all got some amazing photos.

Isn't this the part where it hurts?

Grandma's got a gun.

The Raven!

Hands up!

This thing is the definition of an epic coaster.

Thanksgiving dinner was very yummy!

Edited October 4, 2014 by rubysparkles

[boldikus]

I love these reports!!

[Kyle Coleman]

The voyage in the front at night in the pitch black dark out back is the definition of an epic coaster ride. Glad to see someone else appreciates it as much as I do.

[rubysparkles]

I love these reports!!

 

Thanks. It's nice writing them, but it makes me miss travelling so much!

 

The voyage in the front at night in the pitch black dark out back is the definition of an epic coaster ride. Glad to see someone else appreciates it as much as I do.

 

You are definitely not on your own loving night time rides on The Voyage, there were other people on the tour were singing its praises too. The only reason it wasn't my favourite ERT moment is because we had so much amazing night time ERT, this Diamondback, The Beast, Kentucky Rumbler, Mammoth and Wildebeest. The Voyage was probably the most epic though!

[rubysparkles]

I really enjoyed my day at Indiana Beach. Although it's a small park with no major rides, it's still a great place to go for a day out if you're in the area. Tig'rr coaster was my personal favourite, it is a Schwarzkopf, so of course it's enjoyable. Lost Coaster of Superstition Mountain was just as weird and wonderful as I expected. It was interesting to ride Steel Hawg too, I've never been on an S&S El Loco, I did like it but I definitely didn't love it. Most of its charm was from it's strangeness and I would rather go on a wacky ride than a boring one. The best way to describe this is somewhere between a wild mouse and a Eurofighter. It's not necessarily the best combination but it's better than a standard wild mouse so I'm not complaining.

 

Despite being terrible at Fascination, I still got a harmonica out of it. Pretty damn cool. I can see how that game can become very addictive. Non-coaster attractions we tried included Dr Frankenstein's Haunted Castle. I'm pretty easily freaked out by these things. This one had a lot of darkness. I will give you a spoiler, there's a moment where they have one of those rat effects on your feet. If I'd have known, I would not have gone in there, I have an irrational fear of rats. I'm glad I did do the haunted house as it wasn't too bad to get through. I'm so easily scared by these things that if I can get through it, almost anyone can. Most 7 year olds would go through this kind of thing, I'm sure. The Den of Lost Thieves was actually a really nice shooting ride, very basic in a lot of ways but so much fun. The Skyride, was well, exactly what it says on the tin. I tried the Double Shot too, I really enjoyed this kind of flat. Even though I don't really think I can do drop towers, I think the ones that shoot you upwards are actually a lot more fun. I thought I would be equally as scared of these as the traditional drop tower but I really wasn't.

 

I think Indiana Beach is really worth a drive to if you don't live that far away. It has a lot of unique attractions and the atmosphere is very relaxed. You could spend hours just playing Fascination if you really wanted. I would liked to have ridden Tig'rr coaster a few more times. I also wish Hoosier Hurricane was open, it was a shame to see such a nice looking coaster that goes along the water closed down.

 

Indiana Beach

Cornball Express - 6

Lost Coaster of Superstition Mountain - 5

Steel Hawg - 6

Tig'rr Coaster - 6.5

They gave us a buffet lunch with a plethora of options so unfortunately I didn't get to try the tacos.

If I can get through it, anyone can.

Viper was a pretty cool flat ride too.

I agree, it is always time for popcorn.

Don't act like you're not impressed....

Pirate themed ride rules.

I'm already really bloody scared.

This is basically why we came to this park I think. Everyone was obsessed with this game.

Cool ride signs too.

I wish you were open!!!

[rubysparkles]

The next day was Six Flags Great America. Again, I don't have many photos from this park, I guess I was just too busy running from ride to ride. Of course, the first order of business was to get in line for Goliath. On the first ride of the day I liked it but it didn't blow my mind. I really liked the hang time but I was definitely looking forward to getting a night ride in. It was my first RMC and I was impressed, but from the amazing things I'd heard about their coasters, I was a little disappointed.

 

Next up was X-Flight. I remember that the operations were actually laughably bad at this coaster. I don't know if we caught this on a bad day or what, but this was the first wing rider that I really disliked. The others were all fine coasters that I could enjoy. This one felt so slow around the course and had no forces at all, not once. It was boring as hell and it had quite a lot of vibration for a relatively new coaster. I had no inclination to go on it again. Definitely my least favourite, compared to Swarm, Parrot Coaster and Gatekeeper.

 

We got a few rides on Raging Bull in during the course of the day and evening and it was a pretty good coaster but definitely towards the bottom of the pack for B&M Hypers. Whizzer was the surprise of the day, I really enjoyed this coaster. It had a lot of forces for such a little thing, very deceptive. I thought Viper was a really fun wooden coaster and would probably put it somewhere just outside my top 10 woodies.

 

I was expecting Demon to be as painful as Corkscrew was at Cedar Point but it wasn't anywhere near as bad as that. The Superman, Batman and Dark Knight clones I've talked about before. I love B&M Flyers so I rate them much higher than most, I prefer the more compact and forceful earlier models of B&M inverts so Batman was also enjoyable for me. Vertical Velocity was good but I preferred the version at Dorney Park.

 

Overall, I found the park pretty lacklustre. It has a collection of 13 coasters but not many stand outs, Goliath is probably the best coaster in the park. None of the B&Ms are great examples of their models. They have a few uncommon coasters, like Whizzer that are interesting but not worth making a special visit for unless you are in the area. It's not the worst themed Six Flags park. This felt like a credit run, more than an enjoyable park day. Unlike the other parks I'd visited that had a lot of credits on this trip, I just wanted to get in and out of there ASAP. The night time rides on Goliath were a great end to the day and were probably my highlight, I'm so happy we managed to get 2 rides out of the Platinum Q-Bot. I can't actually imagine going to most Six Flags parks without purchasing the Flashpass Q-Bot, those things are awesome.

 

Six Flags Great America

American Eagle 6

Batman the Ride 7

Dark Knight 4

Demon 5

Goliath 8

Raging Bull 7

Superman Ultimate Flight 8 (if it's got a pretzel loop it basically gets an immediate 8 from me)

Vertical Velocity 7

Viper 7

Whizzer 7

X-Flight 6

More like Zzz-Flight (I'm hilarious...)

I heard a lot of good reviews when this first opened, so was disappointed at how sluggish it seemed.

I *nearly* went on it...

I love this poster. It's the intensity in his expression that really sells it.

The merry-go-round had some pretty awesome creatures to choose from.

Not express. The regular line. Seriously?

Viper was pretty fun!

Shame about all the brakes on this thing.

It's pretty good for the first B&M hyper though.

I think it's slightly better than Apollo's Chariot, but still that makes it the second worse B&M hyper that I've been on.

[mightypotato]

I completely agree with you about X-Flight. I found it to be really boring and dull. I also really liked Viper, though I've only ridden it last year when it was backwards. That was awesome.

[rubysparkles]

Worlds of Fun was up next. Any theme park is going to have a rough time after doing a TPR tour, so it's not surprising that this park wasn't that impressive. Coaster-wise this park doesn't rank that low compared to some of the other parks I visited, however I did think this park was one of the worst I visited in terms of atmosphere and customer service. I was lucky to get to the park at all, as my godmother had to do some extra work and that meant our road trip down to Branson got pushed to the afternoon.This park was pretty much just a credit stop for me. I did think this park could quite easily be improved upon. The two main negatives were that the park map was kind of confusing and that the employees didn't have any idea where anything was. I had to ask three employees before finding one who could tell me how to get to one of the coasters. The food was the same as the other Cedar Fair parks I visited.

 

I think this park is comparable to Dorney Park. It felt busier to me than Dorney, some of the lines got very long very quickly in the morning. I guess there's less competition around Worlds of Fun, because I found Dorney Park a slightly better park. That means I think Worlds of Fun was my least favourite Cedar Fair park.

 

Mamba was a very fun coaster, but the operations were probably the worst I found on the entire trip. I got so bored waiting, that I timed the rides and it was over 5 minutes between dispatches. Patriot is my lowest ranked B&M invert. Prowler was a very good GCI coaster. I ranked it the second best out of the ones I have been on (after Wood Coaster at OCT East and before Kentucky Rumbler), but again the operations were poor which made the queue really drag. I left the park as soon as I hit all the coasters, I would have liked to have ridden a few of them again (Prowler and Mamba mainly) but the queues were fairly long and it was too frustrating to watch how slow everything was.

 

Worlds of Fun:

Patriot - 6

Prowler - 8

Mamba - 7

Spinning Dragon - 5

Boomerang - 4

I really liked Patriot's setting but I didn't really enjoy the coaster that much.

Closed

I did like the play on words at the booths!

Liked it about the same as Magnum XL-200 and thought it was a bit better than Steel Force.

Boomerang was a boomerang. I was lucky it opened, as it was closed for most of the time I was at the park.

Nice colours.

Prowler was definitely the best coaster in the park.

It's short but very fun!

Spinning Dragon was a good example of this type of coaster.

Worlds of Fun's skyline.

A last look at Patriot.

[Meteornotes]

That was a pretty weird but not completely astounding event. Luckily, things were only going to get even better when we looked for more air conditioning. This time we found an “Italian” restaurant. There were a bunch of people from the tour in there, lots of people. Lots of people who did not try to help me, who just tried not to laugh as I had one of the weirdest conversations of my life.

 

We were in awe of you patiently answering all of his bizarre questions without laughing. I have no idea how you did it, but we were seriously impressed.

 

Nice report and photos. Mini New Hotness was a fun trip!

 

dt

[i<3coasters]

5 minute dispatches on Mamba?! That's insane. How long did we time on Viper, was it 3+ minutes?

[rcdude]

Finally got caught up with this. Great report! Mini New Hotness was overall an outstanding trip, probably my favorite of all the TPR trips I've done (displacing North East 2011). It's always interesting to see what others thought of the parks and coasters compared to my opinions. Sometimes they match, and sometimes they're polar opposites.

 

I'm interested to see the last bits of your trip, as I strongly considered going to Worlds of Fun and Silver Dollar City in June, but unfortunately it just didn't work out. It doesn't sound like I missed much at Worlds of Fun, but I really wish I could have stopped by Silver Dollar City.

[rubysparkles]

I'm interested to see the last bits of your trip, as I strongly considered going to Worlds of Fun and Silver Dollar City in June, but unfortunately it just didn't work out. It doesn't sound like I missed much at Worlds of Fun, but I really wish I could have stopped by Silver Dollar City.

 

If you're in the area it's worth it, I would've enjoyed it a lot more if it wasn't directly after the trip and if the operations were at least average. Silver Dollar City is on a whole different level though!

 

5 minute dispatches on Mamba?! That's insane. How long did we time on Viper, was it 3+ minutes?

 

I actually started tapping my foot like a cartoon character. I think Viper was about the same time as Prowler then.

 

We were in awe of you patiently answering all of his bizarre questions without laughing. I have no idea how you did it, but we were seriously impressed.

 

Nice report and photos. Mini New Hotness was a fun trip!

 

I think I was so shocked I couldn't physically laugh, like maybe it was a prank!

 

It was a really amazing trip.

[redfoot12]

Purchasing this shirt was the single greatest decision of my life. Meeting Lil Sebastian was the single greatest moment of my life.

Riding Mean Streak, followed by Corkscrew, possibly canceled out both of these.

[rubysparkles]

The last theme park on my trip was one that I had high expectations for. Earlier I had enjoyed Goliath more than a lot of the other people on the trip and everyone seemed to think that Outlaw Run is better than Goliath. Could this be a 10/10 coaster for me? The only two coasters that merited that score were El Toro and Skyrush, so far.

 

Me and my godmother made the road trip from Kansas City to Branson. We decided that we may as well get the 3 day pass as the 1 day seemed expensive in comparison (of course, a lot of theme parks do this) and then we can pop in and out of the park over those days and not rush anything.

 

Silver Dollar City is definitely a great, scenic park that has a great mix of stuff for families and stuff for coaster enthusiasts. I think the coaster line up is actually a really good example of quality over quantity. The food is really good, a lot of really cool and strange stuff. It's probably my second favourite theme park for food after Knoebels, which seemed like better value to me. We went to see a few shows and they were very good, I'm not a show person but I would recommend checking out a couple of the ones here, even if it's just to get out of the sun for a little while

 

The park was incredibly busy the first day we went. It wasn't a great start to the day, the only major coaster working was Wildfire, so that was my first credit here. I found Wildfire boring as hell and would definitely rank it as one of the worst B&Ms out there. Really it's an ok coaster with a nice setting, but there was nothing that I particularly liked about it.

 

Powder Keg was more enjoyable, the launch was nice and the coaster is easily re-ridable. It's a little bit thrilling and probably just right for the park. Shame it seemed to break down a lot. I rode it during the day and night, it was better in the evening. My favourite part was the beginning, the way train gets from the station to the launch area. Is that a unique element? It looks really awesome and seems really strange. This was the the first time for something that happened 3 times at Silver Dollar City, I was front of the line about to get on when they put an extra train on the tracks. This had only happened to me once or twice before ever, so for it to happen three times at one park, it seemed like bad luck.

 

Thunderation was a very good mine train, not as good as the mine train at Ocean Park, but certain a great example of it. Fire in the Hole was completely unexpected. I didn't actually look this up before going to the park, or if I did I had completely forgotten what this ride even was. This ride rates 10/10 for weirdness. At points it felt like a hallucination, it is one of the creepiest things I have experienced. It's barely a roller coaster really, more of a a dark ride. So I didn't score it very high at all. I didn't go on it a second time, just because I didn't want to spoil my reaction by re-riding it. It was an experience, for sure.

 

I got the Trailblazer pass for the first day, which meant I got front of the line. You can choose which rides you use this on, which is awesome. It meant I used it mainly on Outlaw Run, as the coaster was down for an extended period of time in the morning and the queues were very long. I think over the 3 days I got in about 8 rides on Outlaw Run, tried the front and the back row a few times. I really liked the ride and would highly recommend riding in the front and the back at night. It is very short, but it does take your breath away (like all my favourites do). It didn't merit a 10/10 but it was very close (this and Maverick really should get 9.5). I liked it better than Goliath but I didn't feel like they were that far away from each other in quality. They were pretty close to me. Also I really like the RMC restraints and find them pretty comfortable.

 

I did also get a *first* on Outlaw Run. I got stuck on the lift hill! I was obviously really excited about this, of any ride to get stuck on the lift hill Outlaw Run is a pretty awesome one for it to happen. We were stuck there for almost 30 minutes and the staff were great they bought us all water and chatted away. We were pretty close to the top of the lift. It was frustrating for me as I'd just queued for the front row at night, but they gave us front of line passes and I got to use it the next day for my front row night ride. In the end I got to walk down Outlaw Run's lift hill in the dark with torches lighting the way, I that was a very memorable experience.

 

Silver Dollar City

Outlaw Run 9

Thundernation 6

Powder Keg 7

Wildfire 6

Fire in the Hole 5

Wildfire!

I really wanted to like this coaster, but it was just so "meh".

Seems legit.

One of the shows, very good.

Clocks at the front of the park.

Rapids ride.

This area has closed now for the new Fireman's Landing area.

Me and that fateful lift hill.