Chase’s 2019 Coaster Adventures

[Chasehat]

So with me having an action packed 2019 summer season, I figured I’d just put all my trip reports in this thread. Now I’m still a bit new to writing these so bear with me on the first few and pardon my shitty photography, I don’t feel like lugging a camera around parks with me so I just take a whole bunch of crappy iPhone pics. Without further ado, here’s a trip report from my homepark yesterday to kick this off

 

Six Flags New England, 6/30/2019

 

Now it’s rare that I ever go to parks by myself but since SFNE is close by and I had a Sunday to blow, I figured I’d head down to SFNE by myself. I actually really enjoy going by myself. I can ride whatever I want, go at my own pace, take as many pictures as I want and most importantly, I can ride Superman as many times as I damn well please.

 

Anyway I arrived a little after 11:30 and quickly made it through security and the front gate in about 5 minutes and started my day the same way I start any other day at SFNE, riding the greatest steel roller coaster ever built

 

The line was down the stairs leading into the station so I waited about 10 minutes for the 2nd to last row. As I’ve said in the SFNE thread many times before, the new wheels this ride has been using this year have it running faster than it has in years. This time was no different. Amazing drop, absolutely insane sustained ejector air in the first half including the 3rd hill where Superman decides for a split second it wants to be El Toro. The 2nd half of the ride is just a tangled mess of positive G’s and pops of ejector air. This ride has just about everything you want out of a hyper coaster and sure, the restraints so suck (they’re not anywhere near as bad as Skyrush), and the trains have developed a bit of a rattle, I don’t care this ride kicks all sorts of ass and is still one of the best coasters on the planet.

 

Since the station was pretty empty, I hopped into the row in front of me for another ride. For those who don’t know SFNE has begun to allow re-rides this year (praise the lord). Another terrific ride and since the crowds were still fairly low I walked around for a front seat ride. About a two cycle wait for the front. The ride is also great in the front but I much prefer the back. The first half of the ride is great in the front but the spaghetti bowl is so much better in the back of the train. The pops of air are better and I feel the positive G’s are much stronger in the back of the train.

 

After 3 rides on one of the greatest coasters ever built, I then headed up the ramp that runs around the spaghetti bowl section of Superman and took quite a few pictures, I then headed over another one of the greatest coasters ever built, Wicked Cyclone!

 

Small line was about half way down the stairs into the station and I was on the 2nd to last row of the orange train in about 10 minutes. One thing I noticed while waiting was that the blue train was running much faster than the orange one. The ride was still terrific on the orange train and was a laugh fest the whole way thru but you can really feel the exact moment the ride slows down on this train and it’s right at the first zero-g roll. The orange train kinda chugs thru the rest of the layout but as you’ll see later, totally different story on the blue train.

 

Since the line was still really short I went around again for a ride in the back seat, unfortunately got the orange train again but the ride was still great as always. I went around a 3rd time to try and get the blue train but as I was walking back up the ride went down so I decided to come back later and try for the blue train.

This ride is really amazing I just wish it could run at its peak more consistently

 

I then walked to the south end of the park (bypassing the two shitty boomerangs) to ride a Vekoma that doesn’t actually suck ass, Riddler Revenge!

This ride is really starting to grow on me

 

The gates had just opened as I got into the station so I hopped into the 2nd last row. The changes to the trains on this ride a few years ago completely changed this ride. It’s gone from something I could only bear to ride once every so often to a ride I’m down to take a spin on once a trip. Sure the train still tracks like complete shit and your body still gets jostled around a bit but the layout is really intense and now that there’s no head banging it’s a lot easier to enjoy. I used to be in the camp that they should bulldoze this thing for another coaster but I’ve really grown to like this ride and would be perfectly fine if it stays at the park much longer.

 

The park was still pretty quiet so I headed over the Batman and was greeted with no one in the station and hopped right onto the front seat. This is a solid floorless. I definitely prefer it in the back seat for yank thru all the elements but the front really amplifies the floorless aspect. It’s gotten a little rattly in the final corkscrews but it’s still a fun little ride with an absolutely amazing zero-G roll.

 

Since I haven’t ridden Joker yet this year and the place was empty, I decided to take spin on it. I’ve ridden 2 of this S&S free spins and I’m not a huge fan of either of them. Of the two I probably prefer Great Adventures installation as SFNEs flips a max of twice just about every time I’ve ridden it.

 

I got a whole car to myself on the green side and figured that way I’d be able to get a ton of flips. Yeah no. It flipped twice on the top section and then just kinda rocked back and forth the rest of the ride. If these things flipped 4 or 5 times I’d probably really enjoy them but the way they are now, they’re just kinda lame imo.

It amazes me how close to Joker Harley Quinn gets

 

At this point I need some Intamin ejector air again and headed back down to Superman for two more rides in the back two cars on the train. Warmed up a little more than it was earlier and delivering even better rides than earlier. God this thing is a masterpiece, I’ve ridden this coaster more than any other and I will absolutely never get sick of it.

 

After this I was a bit hungry and some storms were getting ready to roll in so I grabbed a bite to eat at the Primos in kids Kidzopolis and got a pretty shitty slice of pizza but it’s Six Flags food so it is what it is. The storms were about to roll in so as soon as I finished I rushed down to Superman to try and squeeze in one more ride.

Storms rolling in

 

There was no line and the second to last row on the train in the station was open so I hopped right on buckled in praying the thing didn’t close as I was buckling in which it didn’t and we were off. As soon as my train dropped off the lift BOOM BOOM. Two loud cracks of thunder but it was too late now. Usually riding in a thunderstorm would be cool but two rumbles of thunder was really all we got at the park as the storm was too the southeast but was close enough to close the rides.

 

I dicked around while waiting for rides to open and pretty much drained my phone battery so I figured as soon as the rides open I’d go grab one more Superman ride and then head home and charge my phone (since SFNE closed their charging station by Fireball to put a game in front of it..... because Six Flags)

 

Waited about 45 minutes for the rides to open back up but they once I looked up and saw a Superman train rocketing down the drop full of screaming riders, I high tailed it over to Superman before my phone died and got another phenomenal ride in the back seat. After this I headed out to the exit to get my hand stamped to return later (this time with 3 other people) for a night of riding and just random dicking about. Stay tuned for part 2!

Edited July 18, 2019 by Chasehat

[Canobie Coaster]

Nice report! I was there last night for the final half hour on the way home from Lake George and narrowly got the last front row ride of the night on Superman. That's my preferred seat without question on Superman.

[Chasehat]

^I was on the 2nd to last train of the night as you’ll see when I finish the 2nd part of this report later. I guess you were lucky then because they were about to make my train the last one of the night until like 10 or so more people walked into the station.

 

I should also note that operations were very solid throughout the park all day yesterday. Shout out to the Batman crew, there was only two people checking the restraints but they were still getting the trains out in a very timely manner.

[Canobie Coaster]

^ Oh I may have been on the second to last train then. I thought they made everyone fill in the available rows. I think it was the blue train I was on.

 

I thought I had enough buffer to comfortably make it, but that 15 minute breakdown almost got me.

[Chasehat]

Six Flags New England 6/30/2019, Part 2

 

After heading back home to charge my phones and wait for a couple of friends to get out of work, we headed back into the park around 6:30 for a couple more rides until the park closed at 9. Joining me was my friend Sean, who is a fellow enthusiast tho not quite as hard core as I am, my girlfriend who I pretty much drag to parks against her will but she’s grown to like quite a few big name coasters, and another friend of ours Emma who goes to SFNE and Great Adventure quite a bit but still gets cold feet about some rides at both places.

 

As usual we headed for the glorious red Intamin in the back of the park. And waited about 15-20 minutes for the back 2 rows. Another absolutely wonderful ride, I just can’t get enough of this thing, I’m 4500 rides in on this thing and still will just never get old.

 

At this point I just completely forgot to take pictures so the rest of this is mostly going to be just one giant wall of text, sorry about that.

 

After that Intamin deliciousness, me and Sean wanted a spin on Wicked Cyclone and this is where the girls got cold feet. My girlfriend doesn’t like Wicked Cyclone at all (but absolutely loves El Toro, go figure) and Emma didn’t want to go on it because apparently she blacked out completely on her last ride on it because unbeknownst to us Wicked Cyclone mysteriously turned into I305. But, me and Sean got our way and we headed for Wicked Cyclone and waited about 20 minutes for the 2nd to last car.

 

This time I got the blue train and hot damn, I wish this ride could run like this all the time because of it did I would probably put it in my top 5. The pacing is absolutely relentless, the ejector air is delivered and droves and it is absolutely one of the best RMCs ever built when it runs like this. Surprisingly my girlfriend actually said she liked that lap which is surprising because of the 6 or 7 times she’s ridden it that was probably the most insane it was running but hey, not going to complain.

 

After Wicked Cyclone we take a stop at Pandemonium because why the hell not and waited about 15 minutes. I don’t really have much of an opinion on this ride. It’s a fun little spinner but the obscene like it gets all the time deters me from riding it more.

 

We then kinda just wandered for a bit and wanted to do Harley Quinn but Emma wasn’t having it so we settled for the Tea Cups instead. This backfired because me and Sean go hard on the tea cups and Emma started feeling nauseous and wasn’t feeling rides anymore. Sucks to suck I guess.

 

We then headed for a ride on Batman, well me and my girlfriend did, Sean stayed with Emma and baby sat her while we rode. Walked straight onto the 4th row and had another fun ride on this fun little floorless but definitely a lot rattlier than my front row ride earlier in the day.

 

Me and my girlfriend wanted one last ride on Superman and Emma still wasn’t feeling it. So unfortunately for Sean he went back out to the car with her while we went and ride the man of steel.

 

We got to Superman and of course it was having it’s usual Intamin bitch fit 15 minutes before the park closed. But of course, we waited it out and waited for 2 cycles for the back seat. What do I need to say that I haven’t already said about this thing? It’s just one of the best coasters on earth and at night it was running at its absolute peak. I rank this ride much higher than most people as you can tell by my signature but rides like this just reinforce why I have it so high.

 

And that was a awesome conclusion to a pretty great day at SFNE. I don’t normally spend 7-8 hours a day here anymore but it was nice to sit spend a nice full day at the park again. This park has made a lot of strides over the last few years to become more well rounded and the operations are much much better than the used to be.

 

That concludes my first trip report of the summer, stay tuned for more!

[Canobie Coaster]

4500 rides on Superman? You must live right by the park to do that. Superman is one of my most ridden coasters and I think I'm only around 120-125 rides.

[Chasehat]

4500 rides on Superman? You must live right by the park to do that. Superman is one of my most ridden coasters and I think I'm only around 120-125 rides.

Yeah, I live right in Agawam so I’ve been riding this thing since I was tall enough. And Agawam and Western Mass in general is pretty boring with not much else to do other than Six Flags lol.

[Canobie Coaster]

^ I'd do the same thing if I wasn't 2 hours away.

[Chasehat]

I’m back and with a bigger and better trip report from America’s roller coast! I spent a day and a half at the park and as you can imagine, it was absolutely terrific.

 

Cedar Point Day 1, 7/17/2019, part 1

 

After about a 4 hour drive from my friends house in Northwestern Indiana, me, my friend Jon, who’s sort of an enthusiast, and my friend Cam, who’s not enthusiasts but knows the basic shit about roller coasters, arrived at the Point around noon. We had planned to get there at opening but after a day full of walking around Chicago and some bleacher shenanigans at Wrigley Field the night before, we opted for more sleep.

Crappy entrance pick but we made it

 

Most people are going to shit a brick reading this and seeing our plan of attack for the park, but it wasn't that busy so it didn’t really matter anyway. We started our day of with the original Giga, the absolutely phenomenal, Millennium Force!!

This lift hill is mesmerizing to look at

 

I’d heard all the enthusiasts complaining about this ride over the years. Many love it, many wrongly crap on it. Before I ever got to ride it, even I was in the camp that was like “no way it’s anywhere close to one of the best coasters on earth”. I rode it last summer and the thing blew me away and I’ve been chomping at the bit to ride it again.

 

There was a station wait and we hopped in the back two rows, and just like last year this ride kicks ass. The drop is the best drop, outside of El Toro, I’ve ever experienced! It has loads of airtime and the positives at the bottom are very strong and they’re sustained through the entirety of the huge overbank right after it. Another complaint about this ride is that it’s airtimeless and wow, who knew, that was also completely off base as well. This ride has a ton of floater air, strong floater air too, I’d say it’s better than most B&M hyper air. Sure it’s not thigh crushing ejector air, but it’s still got plenty of air time. The speed is just ridiculous and the ride is so good at sustaining it through the entire ride. Millennium Force rocks and is still one of the best coasters ever! I’ll add, I still prefer Superman the Ride, since these two rides have been compared a lot over the last 20 years. The first drop and first overbank is better on Millennium but after that it’s all Superman for it’s ejector air and positive G filled helixes.

Good lord this drop is something

 

Alright alright, onto the main event, Steel Vengeance! When I rode it last year I thought it was amazing, but I didn’t get those best coaster on earth vibes from it everyone and their mother has, albeit I only rode it once last year.

Oh wow, I bet you’ve never seen this angle before

 

Amazingly, the ride was a station wait, yes that’s how dead it was, Steel Vengeance was a station wait. We hit the jack pot with crowds yesterday. We waited one cycle for the back seat, strapped our phones in the pouches on the seats (take notes Great Adventure) and we were off on what many consider the best coaster on the planet. Now this is going to trigger people but, this first ride was really really underwhelming. I’m assuming it was just because it wasn’t fully warmed up yet but while it had plenty of airtime, it wasn’t all that strong and after the midcourse it felt like the ride was really chugging. Still a great ride but I didn’t get off completely mind blown.

 

Since it was still a station wait, we decided to run around and try it again in the front, waited about 3 cycles. The ride is a lot different up there and it was equally underwhelming. The 3 of us are all huge El Toro fans and we all agreed we’d take the bull over Steel Vengeance. I did say we’d come back and try it later after it’d been running all day, stay tuned to see what we thought of it at night.

 

It was balls hot out, so we were stopping and grabbing water after just about every ride, so after being disappointed by Vengeance, we grabbed some water and headed next door to the wildest ride in the west, Maverick! We waited about 30 minutes and since most of the queue is covered, it was a nice break from the heat.

 

I thought this ride was amazing last year but hot damn, I’m guessing the blazing heat was a blessing in disguise because Maverick was running like an absolute bat out of hell. The ride is just a blinding assault of crushing positive G’s, ejector air, wild laterals, and inversions. The launch is absolutely ridiculous on this coaster and the second half of the ride after the launch is one of the best sequences of elements on any coaster anywhere. The 3 of us were stunned and I said as soon it hit the brakes I exclaimed “F*ck Steel Vengeance, this is the best coaster here!” This ride really really brings the crazy, build one of these things at SFNE PLEASE.

This thing is insane lol

 

We then walked back over towards Millennium Force to do Rougarou and really, we just did this because Frontier trail is pretty well shaded and it was hotter than the surface of the sun outside. Headed up to loud orange B&M floorless and walked right into the middle row. This ride oddly gets a lot of hate for being really rough, once again I don’t get the complaints at all... a little bit of rattle here and there, but rough? Absolutely not. While I prefer Bizarro, this ride still has a really good layout and pulls a decent amount of forces for a B&M. I never rode it as Mantis but I’m going to assume it’s miles better now, considering I wish Great Adventure’s Green Lantern would get hit by an asteroid and wipe its existence from this planet.

I have no idea why there’s the glare from the sun, blame my trash photography skills

 

Since Millennium Force is right there, we decided to hit that up again. We waited about 30 minutes since it was only one train but since the park wasn’t that busy and we needed to blow time until hotel check in, it wasn’t that big of a deal. Sat in the back car again got another absolutely wonderful ride! This ride gets way to much hate nowadays, it kicks ass!

 

Our check in for our hotel was at 4 o’clock, which was a blessing for Cam and Jon because both of them were about to pass out from the heat. I opted to stay in the park while those two went and checked in and cooled off a bit and took a quick nap. So I went off by myself and continued my riding spree with a pretty uncrowded Cedar Point on my hands!

 

Stay tuned for part 2!

[Intamin_coyote]

Yeah I don't get the hate for Rougarou either. (and yes, it is light years better than the fullout abomination that Mantis was imo)

[RollerManic]

I full on agree with you about Steel Vengeance. I’m also a huge El Toro fan and since my first ride 5 years ago I have been searching for anything that comes even remotely close to it’s awesomeness, but instead El Toro has been sitting very firmly at my number 1 overall spot for years.

 

Element for element, Storm Chaser is the best RMC out of the bunch I’ve ridden (NTaG, OR, Goliath, SC, SV), BUT I still give Steel Vengeance the preference just because it has the most substance of any ride I can possibly think of on the planet and I can’t deny that to a short ride like Storm Chaser.

 

Maybe it’s just me too: I got off a little confused. It’s a really great ride (maybe even my number 3), but it was not immediately obvious to me that it’s undeniably the world’s best coaster, unlike when I stepped of my first Toro ride. I rode it twice in the morning on a rainy day, at twice more at closing that same day, and finally again in the morning the next day, a perfect, clear day. The only thing I’m missing is to have ridden it in the evening on a hot day, so I’m actually really looking forward to your verdict. The airtime did warm up for me by those evening rides, but it’s still not just the Intamin kind of airtime, and judging by my experience with Alan Schlike’s portfolio (including Lightning Run), I don’t think RMC ever intends on it. All his creations have a different kind of airtime that feels quick and is abundant, but contrasts even the first airtime hill on Maverick next door.

 

Storm Chaser has been the only exception to this, and I think that’s why I like it so much. The first airtime hill is just like a mini El Toro camelback. Maverick’s first airtime hill is also very comparable to El Toro and again, I’m a big fan.

 

But that said, my only experience on Toro was a cool fall weekend in October and it was still immediately my #1 ride, so step it up Steel Vengeance.

 

As for Maverick, it wedges into my number 2 overall spot for the same reasons you mentioned. For me too, the second launch just does me in like gravy. I could possibly go back and forth between it and Vengeance as the best ride in the park if it weren't for the second launch. I think Maverick has the world’s best launch that isn’t on a 400ft coaster. Sure, Xcelerator has a faster accelerating launch that’s very impressive, but it kind of feels like it reaches it’s speed immediately and cruises the rest of the way down the launch. The reports I’m hearing so far of Maxx Force too are saying the same thing. I find Mavericks so satisfying in how in accelerates very quickly but also never stops accelerating, and then blasts into that stupid tight turn is just ... ugh ... orgasm.

[Chasehat]

Cedar Point, Day 1, 7/17/19

 

After Cam and Jon left the park, I decided to walk around, snap some pics, and cool of with some Chick Fil-A before I got back to riding. I’m so used to having crappy food at other amusement parks so it was nice to get some good food that I actually want to eat for once.

 

After, a pretty good meal from Chick Fil-A I headed over to Magnum, and was greeted to the station wait. I decided to wait for the legendary ejector seat and HOLY F*CKING SHIT! This ride has some of the most downright violent ejector air I’ve ever experienced. I remember reading one of coasterbill’s trip reports (which if you haven’t ever read one of his what are you even doing on this sight) and he said this ride is almost so poorly designed it makes it great. Those triangle airtime hills look like something a 5 year old would draw and the ride is bumpy as hell but it’s part of the charm with this ride and it’s partly why I enjoy it so much.

 

I planned on doing Dragster next but while on the lift hill for Magnum I saw an empty train roll back so I figured it would be closed, but when I got of Magnum, I saw a train full of riders blasting towards the sky and jumped in line and waited about 3 cycles for the front seat.

 

I ride Kingda Ka quite a bit and I’m one of the few weirdos who prefer Ka over Dragster. From the front row I don’t think Dragster is smoother than Ka, and while the T-Bars are nice, I’ve never had a problem with Ka’s OTSRs. The main difference is that I feel Ka’s launch is just more intense. I might be biased because I ride it a lot but I like Ka just a bit more but this front seat ride on Dragster was still terrific.

Am I the only one who likes Ka’s colors better than Dragster’s?

 

Once again people are going to insane about my plan of attack, but I went back to Millennium Force. Now running three trains and sporting just a station wait I went around and did 2 back seat rides. If you can’t tell already, I absolutely adore this ride. The blinding speed of the thing just leaves me speechless every time. I’ve only ridden two gigas, this and Fury and once again, I’m an odd ball who prefers this to Fury. I feel like Millennium sustains it’s speed much better and it’s got a much better first drop imo.

 

After those great rides on the 93 mph rocket ship, I headed back over to Mav and waited 1 cycle for the front. My god this ride is ridiculous, it feels very El Toro-ish in some spots, just on a smaller scale. This ride has me even more psyched to ride I305 one day as that looks like Maverick and Millennium had some love child, that sounds orgasmic.

 

Since it was around 6 at this point and I figured that was just about time to give Steel Vengeance another try. The wait was about half an hour, not too bad. I’d figured I’d be lucky to get more than one ride on this thing and anything else would be gravy. Hopped in the back seat and this ride was MUCH better than my first two. It still wasn’t giving those “best coaster ever” rides but it wasn’t the “hugely overrated” level it was at earlier in the afternoon.

 

Maverick still had a station wait so I hopped back on, this time in the back seat and I think not being able to see what’s coming and getting yanked through the inversions and the two stengel dives, make it my preferred seat on the ride.

This hill has some of the strongest air I’ve ever experienced

 

At this point, Cam texted me he was coming back into the park, without Jon who was clapped out back at the hotel room. I told him to meet me at Raptor so when he got there we walked right onto the back row and we’re treated to an absolutely ridiculous ride on another fantastic 90’s invert from B&M. Every single one of these older inverts I’ve ridden has been terrific and I wish B&M would make rides like these again.

 

After that we hopped over to Gatekeeper to experience the complete other end of the B&M spectrum. The ride hadn’t literally no wait, so we got right on in the back row. While the ride is really forceless, the wing over drop is absolutely amazing, the keyhole inversion is awesome, and it’s a nice relaxing ride with a great setting along the beach.

 

At this point I was chaffed to all hell but that didn’t stop us. Cam was down for another ride on Maverick and who am I to argue? The wait was a little longer now but still only about 10 minutes for the front row. Pure bliss, this ride is one of the best coasters ever built and it left us speechless again. Cam asked if we could go around again and who the hell am I to argue?

 

It was about 9 o’clock at this point and Steel Vengeance was posting a 30 minute wait so we hopped since by the time we got on it would be fully dark. We just hopped in some row towards the front of the train since I wanted us to have enough time to get to Millennium Force for a night ride.

 

Ok, I’ve done a bit of crapping on this ride now I’m about to praise it. I’m pretty sure the trims were off on this ride because this was that world beating RMC that everyone praises. The airtime was ridiculous, the whole way through the ride, the second half didn’t feel like the trains was chugging to get through it and the thing is just a relentless assault of ejector air and wild changes in direction. I still prefer Toro but man Steel Vengeance at its peak really is one of the best coasters ever built.

 

We had 15 minutes which was plenty of time for us to get over to Millennium Force and get one of its absolutely legendary night rides. The walk was really painful because my chafing was getting worse and worse but Millennium night rides are some of the best ever so nothing was going to stop me.

 

Of course as we got over to it, it was stuck on the lift and it was 9:55 at this point so dejected, we called it a night. Even with that disappointment it was still an absolutely ridiculous day and we were going to be able to do it again the next day.

 

Stay tuned for part 3!

[Chasehat]

I full on agree with you about Steel Vengeance. I’m also a huge El Toro fan and since my first ride 5 years ago I have been searching for anything that comes even remotely close to it’s awesomeness, but instead El Toro has been sitting very firmly at my number 1 overall spot for years.

 

Element for element, Storm Chaser is the best RMC out of the bunch I’ve ridden (NTaG, OR, Goliath, SC, SV), BUT I still give Steel Vengeance the preference just because it has the most substance of any ride I can possibly think of on the planet and I can’t deny that to a short ride like Storm Chaser.

 

Maybe it’s just me too: I got off a little confused. It’s a really great ride (maybe even my number 3), but it was not immediately obvious to me that it’s undeniably the world’s best coaster, unlike when I stepped of my first Toro ride. I rode it twice in the morning on a rainy day, at twice more at closing that same day, and finally again in the morning the next day, a perfect, clear day. The only thing I’m missing is to have ridden it in the evening on a hot day, so I’m actually really looking forward to your verdict. The airtime did warm up for me by those evening rides, but it’s still not just the Intamin kind of airtime, and judging by my experience with Alan Schlike’s portfolio (including Lightning Run), I don’t think RMC ever intends on it. All his creations have a different kind of airtime that feels quick and is abundant, but contrasts even the first airtime hill on Maverick next door.

 

Storm Chaser has been the only exception to this, and I think that’s why I like it so much. The first airtime hill is just like a mini El Toro camelback. Maverick’s first airtime hill is also very comparable to El Toro and again, I’m a big fan.

 

But that said, my only experience on Toro was a cool fall weekend in October and it was still immediately my #1 ride, so step it up Steel Vengeance.

 

As for Maverick, it wedges into my number 2 overall spot for the same reasons you mentioned. For me too, the second launch just does me in like gravy. I could possibly go back and forth between it and Vengeance as the best ride in the park if it weren't for the second launch. I think Maverick has the world’s best launch that isn’t on a 400ft coaster. Sure, Xcelerator has a faster accelerating launch that’s very impressive, but it kind of feels like it reaches it’s speed immediately and cruises the rest of the way down the launch. The reports I’m hearing so far of Maxx Force too are saying the same thing. I find Mavericks so satisfying in how in accelerates very quickly but also never stops accelerating, and then blasts into that stupid tight turn is just ... ugh ... orgasm.

As you said about El Toro’s airtime, that’s the exact reason I prefer it to Steel Vengeance. Intamin’s sustained ejector air, especially the kind on El Toro is so much better than RMC air. That’s why I prefer almost all the Intamin’s I’ve ridden to the RMCs with the exception of SV.

 

And if you’ve only ridden Toro on cold October day, good grief catch it on a hot day. The difference in ride on Toro when it’s hot out between when it’s cold is a night and day difference.

[RollerManic]

Wait, you prefer Ka over Dragster too?

Ka’s launch is definitely more intense, and the airtime hill is a bonus, but no, I don’t also think peeling blue and green paint looks better than fresh red, yellow, and white paint.

 

I might have to try Steel Vengeance on a hot day next time, but for now I think #3 is a respectable spot. As for Toro in the summer, I can’t even imagine ... it’s about time I should go back there, so maybe I’ll work that in.

[Canobie Coaster]

Great report! I haven't found much difference between Steel Vengeance on a hot and cool day because for me, the mid-course trim was off on the cooler days.

[Chasehat]

I should note, that the 1st day the park I also rode Cedar Creek Mine Ride and Iron Dragon since they were the only 2 credits I skipped last year. Cedar Creek Mine Ride is ok, the only thing I really remember about it was the laterals in the two helixes were pretty ridiculous. Iron Dragon is ok and the section over the water is cool but I definitely prefer the Bat at King’s Island.

 

Cedar Point, Day 2, 7/18/19

 

We had plans for later that night back in Indiana so we only had a few hours at the park and were really hoping to take advantage of early entry. As usual with me and my friends, just about nothing goes according to plan and we didn’t make it into the park until a little before 9:30. I apologize in advance for the wall of text this part is going to be, I completely forgot to take any pictures.

 

Anyways, we arrived through the gates with no issues and headed over to Valravn since we skipped no it yesterday. Pretty much walked right onto the middle row and strapped in the obnoxious B&M vests. Weirdly, the vests bother me on this ride, unlike Gatekeeper’s, which I find perfectly fine. This ride is the definition of meh, the first drop is great for sure, but the rest of the ride just meanders through a bunch of really forceless inversions and a completely airtimeless hill. Honestly wished we skipped this and took one more lap on Gatekeeper, which we never got back to.

 

Since all of our rides on Millennium Force were in the back car to this point, we agreed that on this lap, since it would most likely be our last lap of the trip, we would sit in the front. Annoyingly, the ride was only running two trains but the line was still only about 25 minutes. This lap was another amazing ride, this ride is one the best coasters ever still and it hurts my heart to see it get as much hate as it does. While the sense of speed is amplified in the front seat, I still much prefer the ride in the back seat. The airtime is a lot stronger in the back seat and the sense of speed is already ultra insane back there.

 

Since we planned on going in a big circle, we hit Maverick next. We noticed that there was not a peep at Steel Vengeance and because of that Maverick was sporting a pretty hefty line but after our insane rides on it the day before, no chance either of us were leaving the park without getting one more ride. The wait was about 40 minutes for the 2nd and 3rd rows, once again it delivered and absolutely insane ride. I wish I could take this damn thing home with me to New England.

 

Since Steel Vengeance showed absolutely no signs of life, we sadly had to skip it. Not a huge deal considering I got 4 rides on the day before but one more ride would’ve been nice to see if those day rides would’ve been better than my day rides from the previous day.

 

The next stop was Gemini and we were greeted to absolutely no wait and walked right onto the back row of the blue side. Now I remember really liked this ride last year but man, over the last year I had really forgotten how good this ride was! The drop has a surprisingly good amount of floater air, and the ride has many other good moments of floater air, and it’s so smooth for a 41 year old Arrow. The interaction between the two trains is also amazing and watching it people on opposite trains high five each other as they run alongside each other is always entertaining. This ride is criminally underrated and really flies under the radar because of Cedar Points ridiculously stacked lineup.

 

Since Jon and Cam missed out on Magnum the day before, that was our next stop. Didn’t wait for the ejector seat this time but we were treated to another terrific ride in the second to last car. This ride is bumpy as hell but those air time hills at the end are so violently good I don’t care, this ride is amazing and is another fairly underrated gem.

 

Too Thrill Dragster was next and it had about half an hour wait. The 3 of us decided to something we would never dare to try on Kingda Ka. We decided to try the back seat. I’ve heard some terrible things about the back seat on Ka, so I’ve never dared to try it back there. While the ride is still really fun the back, it’s just nowhere near as the front, which is why I think the roughness complaints about Ka are so stupid, considering the ride is best in the front and it’s glass smooth there, why bother complaining about it when you can just sit in the front. I should add, even though Dragster’s launch is very smooth in the back seat, the train still shakes violently on its way up the tower.

 

After this we hit up another hugely underrated coaster, Blue Streak! The wait was about 20 minutes and this was really the only slow crew we saw over our 2 days there. We sat in the front row and once again, this ride is very underrated. It’s not very smooth but there’s a few great moments of strong floater air and the roughness there is isn’t overwhelming or anything.

 

We were running short on time and had time for one more ride. I was hoping for one more back seat ride on Millennium Force but it was having it’s standard Intamin meltdown, so we opted for our final ride to be Raptor. We waited about a half and hour but it was a small price to pay for another absolutely phenomenal ride on this old school B&M.

 

That concludes another absolutely amazing trip to this wonderful park. I feel pretty lucky to have SFNE just 5 minutes way with Superman and wicked Cyclone, as well as only being 3 hours away from Great Adventure and El Toro, but if Cedar Point is your homework, I envy you. My trips to the park this year and last year we’re so close phenomenal that I think it’s going to start being an annual trip.

 

Stay tuned for more, next up is a first timers trip to Six Flags Great America!

[cparkes92]

Looks like you had a fun time at Cedar Point! It seems like the trims have been off (or lighter than last year) on all of my three rides on Steel Vengeance this season.

 

SV is insane at night! On the last Friday night of CP's 2018 season, I rode Steel Vengeance three times in a half hour with the help of FL+ and all three of those rides were insane.