hoppedup Posted December 26, 2018 Share Posted December 26, 2018 (edited) Day 1: Six Flags Over Texas So our visit to Texas went really well last week. We broke up the 16 hour drive to Arlington with a stop in Memphis. Our first Texas stop was Whataburger. Technically we were in Arkansas, but Texas was across the street. We grabbed a decent enough room at a HoJo and we could see Titan from our room. They opened the gates a bit early and we proceeded towards New Texas Giant. When we got to the rope, the Six Flags employee said that we could get in ten minutes early if we had memberships. We boogied back to New Texas Giant and got in line to be front row for the first ride of the day. And there appeared to be mechanical difficulties, so the ride shut down before it could start. We went over to Titan and it was still testing. After announcing maybe five times that the next train would be the first of the day, we finally were able to get on. I really enjoyed this coaster. The uphill helix was cool. The MCBR was on so hard it was almost painful. My daughter declared this her second favorite coaster of the trip after Iron Rattler. After a quick trip to confirm that NTG was still down, we made our way around the park, hitting every coaster at least once. I loved Shockwave. I wish the old Arrow loopers could age like a Schwarzkopf. Mr. Freeze was also a lot of fun. After some reading I realized that we did the oldest and newest Arrow mine trains on this trip. Judge Roy Scream wasn't particularly bad, but did not warrant a re-ride. La Vibora was great. I love bobsled coasters. The park was dead and we never waited more than 5 minutes for anything. When the app finally updated and showed that New Texas Giant was running, we made a beeline for it. It was a ton of fun and we got a few laps in before ending the evening with a couple more rides on Titan. All in all, a great experience at a very nice park. Obligatory sign photo There are big balls in Texas The reason for the season Maggie approves of New Texas Giant Edited December 30, 2019 by hoppedup Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Canobie Coaster Posted December 26, 2018 Share Posted December 26, 2018 Nice report! As annoying as Titan's MCBR is, I wonder just how insane those final helices would be without coming to a stop considering people can see grey currently. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hoppedup Posted December 27, 2018 Author Share Posted December 27, 2018 Days 2 & 3: Tourists in Arlington/Austin/San Antonio (No coaster content) We awoke on Day 2 of our adventure with no real plan for the day. We were just a few blocks from AT&T Stadium and my daughter asked if we could do a tour. As a Steelers fan, I had no real desire to tour this place. But my daughter wanted to go and when I looked up tours, it turned out that this was one of two days in December with field access for self-guided tours. The house that Jerry built Turns out it is a pretty amazing building. We got to go in the press room, players' and cheerleaders' locker rooms, and you could wander around the field and play catch. What I think of the Cowboys What my daughter thinks of the Cowboys After the tour we headed to Zilker Park in Austin. We wanted to swim in Barton Springs Pond. When we arrived and there were just a bunch of old men swimming around, my daughter decided she really didn't want to jump in. So we hiked a bit. There was apparently a festival of lights coming up that evening and the park was going to be nuts. We opted to head straight to San Antonio and skip out on a night in Austin. Traffic was horrendous in Austin at 2:30 in the afternoon. Maggie with the local flora We rolled into San Antonio with grumbling stomachs. I hadn't booked a room yet so I decided to check out our River Walk hotel that I had booked for Thursday night. I decided to splurge a bit more and got it for this night (Tuesday). There was a BBQ joint, Augie's, two blocks away. It was delicious and cheap. Augie's .99 combo. Hard to beat! We walked along the River Walk and had a lovely evening looking at all the lights. Our hotel was about 1 mile north of the main area of shops and restaurants and about 0.7 miles south of the Pearl district. Both were an easy stroll. Pearl District Day 3: Missions and such: We had breakfast at Pete's Tako House, also just a block or so from our hotel. The machacado con huevos was delicious. Machacado from Pete's Then we set out to visit the Alamo, Tower of the Americas and the other missions on the Mission Trail. We had planned to rent bicycles to ride the Mission Trail. Around 2:30 I realized we wouldn't have time for that, so we drove to three of the missions that afternoon. We made it back to the hotel for some rest before our nightly walk on the River Walk. We enjoyed being on the river so much, we stayed at the hotel three nights instead of one. I am a frugal traveler usually, almost never splurging on downtown hotels and always using street parking when I do. I actually paid for the parking as well. My daughter was a bit shocked by this, I think. And I tipped the valet. We stayed at the Wyndham Garden. I'm still using Wyndham Rewards and this was definitely a huge step up from the Days Inns and Super 8s (which can vary wildly in quality) Our hotel from across the River Walk I would have better photos but my Sony a3000 crapped out after the AT&T stadium tour. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Canobie Coaster Posted December 27, 2018 Share Posted December 27, 2018 Nice report! I would have thought there'd be more people touring AT&T Stadium if self-guided tours are that rare. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hoppedup Posted December 27, 2018 Author Share Posted December 27, 2018 Nice report! I would have thought there'd be more people touring AT&T Stadium if self-guided tours are that rare. One of the guys on the field said it was strangely slow. There was one other family out on the field. We got there when the tours started, though. I think the stadium just has a lot of events booked this time of year. The Texas high school football championships started the day after we were there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hoppedup Posted December 27, 2018 Author Share Posted December 27, 2018 Day 4: Final Mission, SWSA (almost) and SFFT We awoke Thursday morning with a few hours to kill before Sea World opened at 1. We visited the last mission we had skipped the previous day on the Mission Trail, Mission Concepción. The frescoes they have uncovered were really interesting and the highlight of all the missions we visited. We did a little shopping and ended up at Sea World right around opening time. The wind was gusting like crazy, probably in the 40-50 mph range with sustained winds probably 20-30 mph. I had my doubts about any coasters running and they proved correct. We walked around the park to get our bearings for a return trip the following day. Turns out it was pretty simple with all three coasters grouped together. Moose out front shoulda told you... Some of the trees were blown over We took a loooooong lunch at the BBQ place across the highway from Sea World and then ventured over to Fiesta Texas. I was worried that the coasters wouldn't be running there either. The wind had died down quite a bit, though, so I was hopeful. There was a pretty big line by the time they let us in. We met an enthusiast and his mom and chatted for a bit. At rope drop we headed straight to Wonder Woman for a couple of rides. What an awesome coaster! Definitely a unique experience all around. I remembered we had a free digital copy and print coming to each of us because we are members. Obligatory sign photo Wonder Woman at night Maggie approves of this one as well Superman wasn't running (and never did) so we moseyed over to Iron Rattler. No signs of life there either. So we queued up for Roadrunner Express. Best mine train ever, even if the style, theming, and track color didn't quite match the other Arrow mine trains we've ridden. While we were waiting for Roadrunner, we looked over and the Iron Rattler train was coming out. We waited in line for it to open. Testing took quite a while, but omg was it worth the wait. Talk about a relentless RMC conversion! Easily the best coaster of our trip. Iron Rattler gave us the happies! Bert was right about that last car! After a couple of rides on Iron Rattler, we decided to just walk around and check out the lights and grab dinner, since we have a dining plan. I was satisfied with our visit enough to call it a day on rides and worry about catching the rest of the coasters next year. This is a beautiful park and the interaction with the quarry wall is super cool. Projection on the quarry wall Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coasterbill Posted December 27, 2018 Share Posted December 27, 2018 Great report so far! Fiesta Texas is a gem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hoppedup Posted December 27, 2018 Author Share Posted December 27, 2018 Day 5: Return to SWSA and the Hell Drive We woke up Friday morning looking forward to better luck at Sea World with the coasters. We did some shopping for kitschy crap for my daughter to take back to her friends. We also had the last great breakfast we'd have in Texas. We went to the Original Blanco restaurant downtown and the machacado was great here, maybe better than Pete's. And cheap, taboot! My daughter ordered a side of country sausage to go with her pancake. The waitress asked, "It comes with gravy. Is that okay?" Why, hell yeah, that's awesome! They mistakenly put it on my plate. Here in NC, country sausage with gravy has an entirely different meaning from San Antonio, apparently. It was like a sliced kielbasa with tomato sauce. Still tasty. Machacado at The Original Blanco Cafe Our return trip to Sea World was much more promising. There was a light breeze and temps were upper 60s. We hadn't seen Steel Eel testing since we arrived and got a little nervous. No worries, it was running with no one in the queue. We took our first ride front row as the only people on the train. Wow! Even with the MCBR working overtime, the airtime was still amazing, IMO. We were able to move around and try different seats, as there was almost no one in the park. Front row was the way to go, as the cars towards the back slammed you back to the seat after every airtime moment. You could minimize it with some defensive riding, but couldn't get rid of it altogether. The Great White was a solid B&M invert, but it and Wave Breaker only got one ride each. Obligatory sign photo The Great White Steel Eel Maggie approves of all hypers And that's a wrap! Around 2:30, we'd ridden Steel Eel many times and decided to hit the road for NC. Houston was truly awful even after stopping for dinner to avoid the worst of rush hour. We stopped for a few hours sleep somewhere north of Mobile. Atlanta was Atlanta, but then Greenville, Spartanburg, Gastonia, and Charlotte all decided to be Atlanta as well. We didn't even stop in for SFOG or Carowinds. We were that tired. We had originally planned on ZDT's, Kemah Boardwalk, Galveston Island Historic Pleasure Pier, Park at OWA, and SFOG on the way home but our schedule changed. My daughter loved the trip so much she wants to do it again next year, so we'll get those then. The schedule change allowed for the touristy stuff on Tuesday and Wednesday, so it actually worked out for the best. That's a wrap on 2018. Can't wait for the multiple trips we have planned for 2019. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Canobie Coaster Posted December 27, 2018 Share Posted December 27, 2018 Nice report! Even in high wind, at least SeaWorld offers all the animal exhibits. Winds like that would wreck a day at a lot of parks. But I'm glad you were able to return and get some great rides on Steel Eel. Even though it does slam you back down, I prefer the back on Steel Eel simply because of how great those drops are. I'm glad you rode Iron Rattler in the back. That coaster has two of the best drops of any coaster. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hoppedup Posted December 27, 2018 Author Share Posted December 27, 2018 Great report so far! Fiesta Texas is a gem. Thanks! It really was a nice park. I look forward to going back for a full day. Nice report! Even in high wind, at least SeaWorld offers all the animal exhibits. Winds like that would wreck a day at a lot of parks. But I'm glad you were able to return and get some great rides on Steel Eel. Even though it does slam you back down, I prefer the back on Steel Eel simply because of how great those drops are. I'm glad you rode Iron Rattler in the back. That coaster has two of the best drops of any coaster. Thanks! I think I almost prefer Iron Rattler to Steel Vengeance among RMCs. I am looking forward to daytime rides next time. At Sea World, I want to say that there were animal viewings early in the day, but the shows all seemed to start later than we wanted to stay with a trip to SFFT one day and wanting to get on the road the next day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hoppedup Posted March 7, 2019 Author Share Posted March 7, 2019 Next trip is in the works. Should be a good one. Anything else on this route we should take a look at? (Wild Adventures is closed for Easter Sunday) Apr. 19 - Drive to Decatur GA to see a friend play a show Apr. 20 - SFOG > Drive Apr. 21 - Weeki Wachee Springs > BGT Apr. 22 - BGT > Fun Spot Kissimmee Apr. 23 - SWO > Fun Spot Orlando Apr. 24 - Return to BGT or SWO or touristy stuff> drive north Apr. 25 - Day in Savannah or Charleston Apr. 26 - Coaster Campout at Carowinds Apr. 27 - ERT on Fury > National Whitewater Center> Home Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ytterbiumanalyst Posted March 8, 2019 Share Posted March 8, 2019 Nice Texas trip! You got all the major stuff, glad you took some tine for the history in San Antonio. I don't know anything about the parks you're going too, sorry, but I'm glad you bumped this so I could read a trip report I missed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hoppedup Posted June 27, 2019 Author Share Posted June 27, 2019 So my daughter and I took a long weekend and hit 4 parks. First up was Holiday World. We arrived before rope drop and queued up with the crowd, with the intent of hitting The Voyage first. The theming is great in this park. I honestly didn't do a lot of research and figured the whole park was Christmas themed. First up, The Voyage. We were front car on the first train of the day. What an amazing ride! Intensity in ten cities! It was a little rough, but not painful. As we pulled back in to the station, I was snapped out of my amazement by an announcement from the operator that The Voyage would be down briefly for maintenance. Lucky we got that first train. A thing of beauty We headed over to Thunderbird and rode both sides in the back and front. Butter smooth, but the launch really adds to the fun factor. Maggie loved the free soda stations! We went back to The Voyage and the last train of the day carrying people was going up the hill. It did not reopen while we were there. Boo! Our longest wait was a 35-40 minute wait to be abused by The Legend. Seriously intense but brutal. Bring the pain! After The Legend, I couldn't talk my daughter into doing Raven, The Voyage was down, and we'd had our fill of Thunderbird, so we headed toward Kentucky Kingdom. I really enjoyed Holiday World. I wish I could have gotten a few more rides on The Voyage, but I'm sure i'll be back at some point. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hoppedup Posted June 27, 2019 Author Share Posted June 27, 2019 We left HW and were soon at Kentucky Kingdom. We made our way back to Storm Chaser. It was fun, but we both agreed it was our least favorite of the RMC conversions we've ridden (7 total). I only took a couple of pictures at KK. I thought the park had an odd layout. Lots and lots of chain link fence. Kentucky Flyer was the only coaster running two trains. It was fun for what it is and an excellent first woodie for a noob. T3 wasn't running when we got there. It was when we were done with Lightning Run, but we didn't feel like walking back over for a potential beating. I talked Maggie into doing Thunder Run somehow. She was a little leery of woodies after The Legend. Lightning Run was a lot of fun. The airtime pops were great. It was the star of the park for us. My daughter knows nothing about the parks before we get there, and she said, "This feels like a Six Flags park." Smart girl. We were done quickly with this park as I figured we could make KI for night rides as is it was our next stop. The other picture I took: We arrived at KI about 8:15. I saw the full parking lot and kept driving. We had FL+ already for the next day, so there was no need to deal with the crowds. Next up: Kings Island! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grsupercity Posted June 27, 2019 Share Posted June 27, 2019 Kentucky Kingdom is not my favorite park but I love it to death. Storm Chaser and Lightning Run are top notch. Glad you are enjoying your trip Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hoppedup Posted June 27, 2019 Author Share Posted June 27, 2019 (edited) Day 2: Kings Island We awoke to a steady, light rain. And the news that my daughter hadn't packed a rain jacket. We were in no hurry so we went in search of one. We had to go to three stores to actually find a jacket that was something either one of us would ever wear again. Apparently the recent weather caused a run on rain gear. After a hearty breakfast at The Mason Grill, we set off for KI. The rain died down and we never saw it again on this trip. We started with The Bat since it wasn't on the FL+ list. I love this ride. We then did Banshee and Invertigo. Banshee is right up there with Afterburn among B&M inverts for me. I also really enjoyed the inverted boomerang. We have a season FunPix pass, so: Next up was Mystic Timbers x2. We both absolutely loved it. It was hauling ass. The Shed video was not working on any of our rides. Also, the FunPix booth wasn't open. The first drop of Mystic Timbers. So sexy: Then we rode The Beast. I feel like I regained my daughter's trust in my judgment of wooden coasters with Kentucky Flyer and Mystic Timbers. Then The Beast destroyed it in just a couple of minutes. We did the FunPix selfie spot at The Beast and it didn't show the sign so we took our own. I didn't realize until we were at Cedar Point that they can edit the photos, so we got this from The Beast: Now it was time for the star of the show, Diamondback. We were in the station in no time. A guy probably an hour back in the queue loudly exclaimed, "I ain't paying $90 for that shit" as we breezed by. I didn't stop to tell him that I paid $60 on the Presidents' Day sale. And that we had already done 6 coaster rides in just over an hour. We had about a three train wait. We were next in line when they decided to add the third train. It had some issues and we bailed, figuring we'd come back later. It was not to be. An hour later all three trains were off-track. Almost got it: Sad sight: We leisurely made our way through the rest of the coasters. After Vortex, my daughter said she never wanted ride another Arrow coaster again. I told her to try to remember the good times, like Loch Ness Monster and Tennessee Tornado. We also did the Eiffel Tower and Windseeker. Banshee & The Bat from the tower: Our visit to KI marked our longest day at an amusement park yet (until the next day at CP). We decided to head toward Cedar Point. I figured we'd check in to the hotel and get a preview at CP. Only I goofed and cancelled my reservation and forgot to re-book. Everything was booked up or $200+ per night. I found a Super 8 in Port Clinton for $130 and booked it through the WR app. We arrived to a situation similar to Jerry renting a car on Seinfeld. Overbooked. We ended up across the street at Clinton Inn & Suites for more money than I have ever paid for a hotel room (probably not that expensive to some, but hotels have always been a place where I skimp) We were tired and hungry, so I sucked it up. We did catch the sun setting on Lake Erie: Edited June 27, 2019 by hoppedup Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hoppedup Posted June 27, 2019 Author Share Posted June 27, 2019 Kentucky Kingdom is not my favorite park but I love it to death. Storm Chaser and Lightning Run are top notch. Glad you are enjoying your trip Thanks. Your signature says it all. Why are there not more Chance hypers? That thing was awesome. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hoppedup Posted June 27, 2019 Author Share Posted June 27, 2019 Day 3: The pilgrims reach the holy land We arrive at around 8:10. My daughter is questioning why we have to arrive so early. And why don't we just use the main gate. "It's right there.", she said. I explain that it's because I read TPR and listen to folks who know a lot more about these parks than I do. I explained the Maverick/Steel Vengeance combo awaiting us and how we needed to use the gate by Magnum XL-200 to get there quicker. The rope had moved into the park a bit farther than it was last year on my visit. We waited patiently and fast walked back to SV. It was still testing so we made a beeline for Maverick for two quick rides. I knew we were getting FL+ so I wasn't super concerned about Steel Vengeance. Maverick was awesome as usual. It is still my favorite coaster. We boogied over to Millennium Force next for the second best coaster in the park. Another amazing ride. We did it x2 because I had forgotten where the camera was (and it is a great ride). It was nearing 10 so we decided to go get our FL+ passes. Again, since I read these forums I knew to ask if I could get FL+ for FL price. Yes indeed. Thanks, TPR! We did Raptor and Valravn next. There was a language barrier with the Raptor FunPix person so we got our photo and someone else without cropping. I decided we should probably ride Steel Vengeance next, so we made our way over there. On the way, TTD was running so we dipped in for a quick ride. Thanks again, FL+. We made our way back to SV, skipping Gemini and XL-200. The offspring said she wasn't touching any more Arrow coasters or woodies this trip. I was definitely cool skipping Gemini and Corkscrew. Steel Vengeance was so much fun. We got three rides in about 30-35 minutes. When we went back later in the day we had to wait about 15 minutes and the app was showing 135 minute wait times. Steel Vengeance: Maggie approved. We then went over to Gatekeeper. It's a fun ride, the keyhole elements are cool. But my daughter agreed it was her third favorite wing coaster after Thunderbird and Wild Eagle. Next up was Rougarou. It was fine, but with the big three awaiting elsewhere in the park, it was one and done. We used the Sky Ride to go back towards the front gate so we could reapply sunscreen. It was a walk-on headed that way and had quite a line if you were going the other way. We still managed to walk 12 miles that day. We ate at the new BackBeat Que. It was good. Kinda similar to Miss Keat's with fish and shrimp added. I had talked Maggie into riding XL-200 but the line was a deterrent. Maybe next year. That's a wrap from Cedar Point. After every trip I ask what my daughter's favorite parks and coasters are. Cedar Point was no surprise, but she threw me a curve when she said Mystic Timbers was her favorite coaster this trip. We spent almost eight hours in the park, a new record for us. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cparkes92 Posted July 1, 2019 Share Posted July 1, 2019 I'm glad you had fun on your Midwest swing with your daughter! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hoppedup Posted July 1, 2019 Author Share Posted July 1, 2019 I'm glad you had fun on your Midwest swing with your daughter! Thanks! We packed a lot into a 4 day weekend, considering we drove from NC. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jynx242 Posted July 1, 2019 Share Posted July 1, 2019 It's awesome that you guys get to do this! That is a TON of quality time right there. I hope to do this kind of thing with my little guy when he gets older (he's 3 now and loves the coasters and rides he can ride, but not tall enough to warrant a road trip ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hoppedup Posted July 1, 2019 Author Share Posted July 1, 2019 It's awesome that you guys get to do this! That is a TON of quality time right there. I hope to do this kind of thing with my little guy when he gets older (he's 3 now and loves the coasters and rides he can ride, but not tall enough to warrant a road trip ) I wish we had gotten in to coasters earlier. She's 17 now and it's tough getting time away with a teenager with a driver's license and their social schedule. Hopefully she keeps taking at least a week or two every year to ride coasters with her pops. Since our first trip in August 2017, my coaster count has gone from 7 to 137, and that's skipping Wild Mouse coasters and some clones. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Canobie Coaster Posted July 2, 2019 Share Posted July 2, 2019 Nice reports of the midwest parks! Out of curiosity, was the midcourse trim off on your morning ride on Voyage? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hoppedup Posted July 2, 2019 Author Share Posted July 2, 2019 Nice reports of the midwest parks! Out of curiosity, was the midcourse trim off on your morning ride on Voyage? Thanks. Pretty sure it was. I remember slowing just a bit before one of the tunnels on the return trip. Now I think I have to go back for Holiwood Nights. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Canobie Coaster Posted July 2, 2019 Share Posted July 2, 2019 Ah ok. For the first morning ride on Day 2 of Holiwood Nights, the trim was off but it came back on later. I wasn't sure if they typically did that in the morning. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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