Jump to content
  TPR Home | Parks | Twitter | Facebook | YouTube | Instagram 

2019 Adventures Photo TR


Recommended Posts

As for the glasses strap, I have no issue with parks requiring them, especially on a ride as wild as Twisted Timbers. I'm shocked the park doesn't require it on I305 to be honest.

 

I305 doesn't really have the same kind of violent ejector air that Twisted Timbers does, plus the insane speed helps hold them on your face.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 89
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

If only Americans weren't such idiots, we wouldn't have to deal with things like this.

 

lol blaming an entire country for one parks loose article policy. Way to go!

 

I seriously believe that this is the best steel coaster in the United States. It's everything we don't deserve in a modern coaster. Speed, forces, amazing transitions.

 

Yet, the line is always short and even people who claim to like coasters say its too this or too that. I just don't get it. If anything, as it ages, i305 becomes more and more re-rideable. I get that if you ride The Voyage too many times in a row you might actually have a stroke, or that Skyrush too many times may cause an embolism in your legs from pinching you so damn hard. But this is just sheer forces. You're held in properly with the vest restraint, it's smooth, deliberate, it's just excellence. All you candy a$$ses can have your gentle B&M hyper rides. This is where its at. .

 

Why parks continue to keep getting cookie cutter lame-o forceless B&M dives and hypers/gigas while this thing clearly exemplifies what they could have instead boggles my mind. Maybe it's just a location in the country thing, but an i305 clone/replica would literally have the longest line at SFMM for a decade.

 

Fantastic reports, love your photos and down to earth commentary. Well done and keep it up!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This unexpectedly hilarious statement of yours needs to be repeated: “Great Adventure has El Toro and then you can ride El Toro again.“ LOL!

 

I can confirm the metal detectors at Steel Vengeance are implemented in a much better way than KD has them set up at Timbers. Cedar Point does everything better though so I’m not surprised.

 

Avalanche Bobsled is awesome and I’m happy to see someone else enjoys it. Glad you had a good day at Kings Dominion!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

i305 is one of the few coasters I see and it hurts me not to be there riding it right now. I love that ride so much. Glad to hear TT was running at captain insano levels. TT and Skyrush have such extreme airtime I think there's a little bit of tolerance needed to truly appreciate them. The more I rode, the more I loved! Great report!!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Wow, thanks for all the comments and the front page love! You guys are awesome!

 

About two weekends after the BGW/KD trip, I continued making good use out of my 2019 Cedar Fair pass renewal, with a quick day trip to:

 

Carowinds

 

Literally, day trip. My friend and I scored crazy-cheap AM flights from MCO to CLT, and also-crazy-cheap return flights that same night. The timing was even perfect; we'd land early enough to get to the park just after opening, and we'd have about 6-7 hours in the park before we had to head back out. We were a little nervous, as about two days before the trip, The Weather Channel started calling for rain/thunderstorms all day, and the night before, it was sitting at an 80% chance for the entire afternoon/evening.

 

We did end up losing about 3ish hours of park time due to a massive storm system that rolled through. It ended up being a net positive, though, as the longer the storms went on, the more the park bled guests. By the time it ended, we still had about 2 hours of ride time with virtually zero waits. The park also did a fantastic job of getting every single ride and coaster back up and running very quickly after the storms passed.

 

Carowinds as a park is quickly cementing their status as one of the top in the Cedar Fair chain. I'm sure this has all been said before (even by me in last year's report), but it went from being a somewhat forgettable park for me just 10 years ago to a park I very much enjoy visiting. It's more than the addition of Fury- the park has greatly improved almost every area. Re-themes have added atmosphere, the entire park looks fresh and new, the new entrance looks just like Cedar Point's, and operations and customer service are consistently strong.

 

Copperhead Strike is a brilliant addition. It's not crazy intense or anything, but it's fun and weird, has hangtime all over the place, an airtime hill in the middle of a launch, and would make a perfect "first coaster with inversions". We rode it a bunch of times.

 

I would consider this to be more of a mini-trip, since in total we only had about 4 hours of time to do rides and attractions, so it was mostly marathoning the things we love.

001.thumb.jpg.011d9fe5843c0f28d1e53fa1b27eaa7e.jpg

Welcome to Carowinds! Don't mind the ominous clouds, everything's open for now!

002.thumb.jpg.b81bc9d553bf6414f1ed72e01e38d241.jpg

Fury running with riders was a good sign, but we wanted to hurry up just in case this didn't last long

003.thumb.jpg.6c9c744a51fd386d41dcd664efdc0ac4.jpg

But before we could go ride Fury, we had to go get bit by a snake in the back of the park. Look ma, a vertical loop!

 

As I said above, while it's not super intense, Copperhead Strike is just plain *fun*. They did a nice job theming and landscaping, the launch shed is a cool spot, and the ride goes upside down quite a few times. It's also WAY longer than it looks

004.thumb.jpg.48803d76d0505ece4173f99353d53e25.jpg

A shot of the station area before we had to give up our stuff and a couple of our dollars to Cedar Fair, as this coaster requires a you-know-what if you have a bag or loose articles on you. Nothing goes into the station.

 

One thing I really wish Carowinds and other Cedar Fair parks would do- offer a "Rent a Multi-Use L*cker" like Six Flags and other parks do. I'd much rather pay $6-8 all at once and re-locate than have to get a fraud alert from Wells Fargo because I got 5 separate $2 charges from the park.

005.thumb.jpg.1c2918460b90a50b0a95c12412f64c65.jpg

With threatening weather quickly approaching, we hurried over and got about 5-6 rides in a row on Fury. On one of the last rides before it went down for weather, we could actually see a few flashes of lightning in the distance. This was kind of freaky, as when you're on top of Fury and look around you, it's the tallest structure for miles. The only thing in the distance that's as tall or comes close is the air traffic control tower at CLT airport, which is visible from the lift.

006.thumb.jpg.06b665781b9fcd12d93654a803d9227e.jpg

I think I took this photo out of order, but I never realized that this turn on Fury is kind of like an elongated hammerhead turn-around.

 

Oh, I should probably talk about the ride. Fury is pretty darn awesome. It's not i305, but there are actually moments, particularly the HUGE drop, this turnaround, the low-ground turn, and treble clef, where this B&M is...dare I say...scary?

 

Riding in the outer left seat in the back row is particularly out-of-control feeling, as you really get flung to the side in the turns.

 

I'm a big Intamin fan, so naturally I also love Millennium Force. Fury is probably a better coaster than Millennium Force, but I like Millennium Force more, if that makes any sense at all.

008.thumb.jpg.c0c7e20e551ef50772920ac167c82421.jpg

Mama Ru decided we'd been lucky enough, so she abruptly ended our riding streak with some flashes of lightning. Or maybe it was Mother Nature? Maybe both?

 

As it started to sprinkle, we just barely made it under the awning of the restaurant at the end of the main entrance plaza, and it poured. like. hell.

009.thumb.jpg.803ddfd717f27cb8f59bbd64711ef827.jpg

Fast forward a few hours and we lost the rain and about 10-15 degrees in temperature, but gained some sunlight.

 

We headed back to Afterburn immediately. I don't know if this is me lamenting what's now nearly 2 years since Universal cruelly ripped Dueling Dragons from our hearts like a lover abruptly packing their bags and telling you it's over without explanation, but Afterburn has skyrocketed up my list of B&M Inverts the past few years. It seems to be more intense every time I ride it, and honestly, I think I like it more than Montu. We got several rides on the back row and the forces were just spectacular. Extreme positive Gs, crazy quick snaps in the batwing and flat spin.

010.thumb.jpg.94b785bf70752f29f771a12d1252cc8d.jpg

We then proceeded to get about 8-10 rides on Copperhead Strike with zero line, which normally is just about impossible on a brand-new ride on a weekend. We rode in almost every row, having a blast as we did so. Once you let the snake bite you, it's hard to get it to stop.

011.thumb.jpg.3f05e917e1d7a38167406b0aaeda3f14.jpg

This corkscrewy bullsh*t is still here, I guess. It makes for a good midway ornament and photo op.

012.thumb.jpg.27e45f0737d56a9b80633476df49e386.jpg

How far down the RMC waiting list is this thing?

 

I just want to say that if and when Carowinds chose to RMC Hurler, they'd deserve a standing ovation. Still, it would be cool to see them do a unique layout and not just clone Twisted Timbers, but also they can totally clone Twisted Timbers and I'd be happy.

013.thumb.jpg.7fe759781320a73089b4fa35b80d04a7.jpg

After a few more marathon rides on Fury, it was time to dip. Carowinds- where the Carolinas are next to each other!

014.thumb.jpg.738ab8344b668c16a8133c7749338bcf.jpg

One last look at Fury and it's awesome "treble clef" element. I hope the Kings Island giga coaster has one of these

015.thumb.jpg.8f7a6e201abb4958f477b9b944f41fd0.jpg

Oops...when we got back to the car, we realized we'd completely forgotten to ride InTRIMidator on this trip. Oh well.

 

Thanks for reading!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Afterburn Carowinds is a GREAT park for that one day trip. It's so convenient to the airport and typically the crowds are small enough so you can ride whatever you want as many time as you want. Glad you were able to crush a bunch of rides even with the rain delay.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Great report! I just had a visit at Kings Island where I rode some coasters with lightning in the distance and it's definitely a bit freaky.

 

I'm envious of all the rerides you got on Copperhead Strike. It's a really great coaster, but the line was rough on the day I went (FastLane was 45 min).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Moving right along, I'm really keeping up the pace with my trip reports this year!

 

After a lot of crazy One Magical Weekend activities at Disney and their host hotel for the first weekend in June, in which they host LGBT-friendly events in and around Walt Disney World that attract thousands, all the partying and day drinking got me in the mood for a little solo trip.

 

Like many others on here, I'm pretty frugal and try to "cheapskate" my way into doing a large quantity of short trips, instead of spending a thousand bucks each on fewer, longer trips. One of the ways to achieve this is by flying the budget airlines. It's nice flying with an Even-More-Space seat on JetBlue showered in unlimited snacks, but the plane ultimately gets you to the same place as Frontier, where you're basically told to "sit down and shut the hell up" by overworked flight attendants who will slap the sh*t out of you if your bag doesn't fit under the seat. So I booked a trip from Orlando to Philadelphia on a whim for about $75 RT, giving me a day and a half for parks. It's only a two-hour flight, how bad can it be?

 

Well, sometimes flying a cheapskate airline such as Frontier or Spirit really teaches you a lesson in the dice you're rolling on them. On the day of my trip, I woke up at 5am due to my phone getting a message saying that my flight had been canceled. Grudgingly, knowing I better take action immediately, I shook myself awake and waited on hold for 45 minutes until I got a Frontier agent on the phone. Turns out, they canceled both their 10:40am and 1:00pm flights from MCO to PHL, and the agent told me "nothing else is available today" and that they could book me the following morning for 6am. Luckily, I had already checked online to find that they were taking advantage of people who really needed to get home by jacking up the one-way cost of their 5:55pm flight to $399 one-way. I promptly told the agent that seats on this flight were still available for purchase, and they "checked" and miraculously found that I was right. Funny how that works!

 

Fast forward several hours and checking MCO's flight status, I found that the flight had been delayed to 7:30pm, even though f*cking Frontier never sent out any kind of alert. Then, a little bit later, I checked and it was un-delayed. Then again, about 45 minutes after that, I finally got a text from Frontier saying it was delayed to 7:45pm. Checking over and over again, I decided to finally just get there to be on time for the 7:45pm flight time.

 

Well...I get to the gate, and the flight is now delayed until 9:15pm. But I was able to witness a very amusing moment of citizen justice. It turns out, the further delay was due to Frontier deciding that the aircraft that was already parked at the gate was now going to Indianapolis instead of Philadelphia. A bunch of extremely-pissed Philadelphians who had been apparently there since 9am that morning stormed the ticket counter, screaming at the gate agent, and then blocked the gate and door area from being able to be used for the other flight, resulting in police and airport security being called. Eventually, some higher manager for Frontier at the airport came, called corporate, and the aircraft was re-assigned to Philadelphia once again. Only one problem...now there was no crew members to work it, as they'd already been re-allocated elsewhere. Finally, around 9:30pm, a crew that had landed from elsewhere got our plane ready, and we were finally on our way. What a mess.

 

 

Well, moving on, my plans got totally messed up but I was still determined to make two parks happen. So after finally making it to Philadelphia, I got up early the next morning in order to arrive close to opening time at:

 

Dorney Park

 

This would be my first visit to Dorney in a number of years, since about 2014 or so. I know a lot of people feel it's mediocre because it kind of is, but it's a cute little park that you can visit with zero wait times for a handful of halfway-decent coasters. Despite being Cedar Fair corporatized, it does have a decent and cute setting, sandwiched between two hillsides with a river running through the center.

 

In continuing Cedar Fair consistency of the last two years or so, the park was impeccably clean, operations were pretty consistent, and the park looked freshly painted and landscaped everywhere. It would be nice to see this park receive a thing or two, like maybe a medium-sized GCI woodie as has been the rumor for ages now, but I just don't see too much happening any time soon. It's a business, and Cedar Fair clearly doesn't see a bigger investment generating that much in the way of a return.

 

Anyway, here's a bunch of photos I took as I leisurely made my way through this laid-back park.

001.thumb.jpg.adf2ae3f96def758316f49f44d88fec1.jpg

The view of the park from the stop light on Hamilton Blvd. This park can also be seen from I-78.

002.thumb.jpg.104be9c8adc45981de73b84bca3bd92f.jpg

Steel Force going up the lift as I got out of the car

004.thumb.jpg.a76d93098dbb8d6d18173ca4e0536ed3.jpg

The star attraction of this park is arguably Talon, their above-average B&M Invert. It's right in your face as soon as you walk in. The best part of the ride is the ending. A quick, snappy corkscrew followed by some low-ground turns. For me, the greatest B&M Inverts are made not by their giant inversions, but by being able to ride in the back row and have no idea where the train is going, with fast turns and snappy, surprise inversions. If Talon did just a little more of this, it would be a higher-tier coaster for me. I do really love this ride, though!

005.thumb.jpg.0ab5e50da05f13b380412a6bf9d16385.jpg

Hold. The. Phone.

 

Is there a line...at Dorney? Holy crap, I've never, ever seen this before and I've been to this park like 4 or 5 times. Turns out, this was just the opening rush with a bunch of schools visiting the park that day. An hour later, there'd be no wait at all.

006.thumb.jpg.1e84199a2c8d6eb279dddf42c1aeec24.jpg

Like I said above, I really love and enjoy Talon, I always look forward to this coaster every few years. It has some uniqueness to it and I love the little trenches at the bottom of the first few inversions. The paint still pops and looks on point, and this coaster opened in 2001!

007.thumb.jpg.01d4b3192329b3aadbb032b0284a98d0.jpg

I also really love Hydra. It has a unique hillside setting and it uses the terrain really well. It's not the most forceful, but the unique layout makes this one of my favorite of the B&M floorless coasters.

008.thumb.jpg.0a10d9815f501f0fade0a5b213714260.jpg

Dorney owns in the paint scheme department. It's not every day you see a B&M that has a corkscrew inversion before the cobra roll

009.thumb.jpg.50d61749db034b46ba111ca90a1b4c53.jpg

Hydra also has a crowd-pleasing pass right past the station with this turn and then an airtime hill

010.thumb.jpg.3f76e945b7341de47a079fdf9c923731.jpg

An artsy shot next to Hydra's cobra roll. A fun and unique cobra roll, you're *almost* not upside down on either side. Both inversions in the roll kind of blur the line between over-bank turn and upside down.

011.thumb.jpg.9bca83851c3bc56ad25d000958d7cc53.jpg

Also featured is the famous "Jojo roll" not used again until just this year on Copperhead strike. The slow roll is super disorienting and weird. You don't want anything in your pockets here!

012.thumb.jpg.123caa6194c182f5910a075e59e78bbc.jpg

Dorney Park also keeps it classic, featuring older flats such as Tilt-A-Whirl and Music Express. Notice how, despite these being older rides, Dorney keeps them looking 100% new.

 

Question for the Dorney Park aficionados- thinking of it now, I don't remember seeing the Whip when I was there. Was this ride removed or did I just miss it?

013.thumb.jpg.be4abd7d9816fe89ab12c8cb064ae45c.jpg

This S&S triple-tower complex actually isn't! Notice the lack of electronics in the third "hollow" tower in the back. I've seen S&S do two-tower complexes like at Universal and Great Escape, and Great Escape's is even joined at the top with just two. These two towers also don't seem to run Combo mode- the left tower is space shot-only, the right is a turbo drop.

014.thumb.jpg.191c19ff5b58416828fc7ba26ed1d428.jpg

A little bit of Dorney Park herstory

015.thumb.jpg.420099c101ee346af1d0ae15dbe98631.jpg

Steel Force doing it's thing. This coaster makes up the entire length of the park, but they have a lot in this small-ish park

016.thumb.jpg.5dac652d9c92d09e97ce939056221323.jpg

It's nice to see Cedar Point's old first-gen Intamin freefall enjoying it's retirement in the Lehigh Valley. These rides are still genuinely terrifying. If you haven't been on one, don't discount the amount of a$$-clenching terror they manage to give as you bump-bump loudly into the drop position. Then, when the drop gives way, it's real, honest freefall.

017.thumb.jpg.d90d2ff8cb5f3cb0c43eee8da3846855.jpg

A little more herstory, this time about an old dance hall that burned down

018.thumb.jpg.8208765c982f5f0bbd55fcee6608fef0.jpg

I guess they keep the Haunt buildings up year-round now, but I'm sure this just makes financial sense.

 

The last time I did CornStalkers at Dorney (about 10+ years ago), it was in the water park entry path behind Talon, and my friends and I got genuinely terrified several times

019.thumb.jpg.e8e3543bbeba65250106dab7fef5ba6e.jpg

"Possessed", the coaster awkwardly named an adjective. I wonder why this got changed from it's original name, Voodoo. Maybe something to do with all the religious people in PA?

020.thumb.jpg.a7e4ffdd5eb436c9bb96a5d668a7de6f.jpg

Hey, Six Flags New England, our lawn is always working, unlike your big Boomerang!

 

Sometimes you have to know when to quit while you're ahead, and Dorney/Cedar Fair did just that. I feel like this is an unpopular opinion, but I've never found Invertigos to be smooth at all, they smash my head over and over.

021.thumb.jpg.9feba4b2fee39dd2170610ec51b61e30.jpg

Some pretty landscaping next to the rough old wood coaster and stream that runs through the center of the park

022.thumb.jpg.51b7f6961e46d95ce9ab970ad6e3094a.jpg

Steel Force is a great way to get some nice views of the park and surrounding area, between it's 25-minute lift hill and big mine train ride style. I find these Morgan hypers to be dull, but nothing bad about them.

023.thumb.jpg.f48a3a2e93bf91c335b468396fde8141.jpg

The Dinosaurs walk-through attraction has become simply a nice nature path. Oh well.

 

This area and the adjacent former Stinger site could make a great spot for a future new coaster/land/attraction, but let's be honest, this is Dorney.

 

I remember reading all the way back when Prowler opened that "maybe they'll use this space for a GCI woodie"

 

It's good to have hopes and dreams.

024.thumb.jpg.e63abafa32078c973134b9139414b328.jpg

Let's end with some nice shots of Talon, shall we?

025.thumb.jpg.768c12c7fe88a1bbcb6c0cbde682de61.jpg

Prepare to be gripped by fear! Hopefully not grabbed by the p*ssy.

026.thumb.jpg.0979134f4d461ffa993eae5e72dcf10d.jpg

This is more like it! I got 6 rides in a row before I left

027.thumb.jpg.c734e61fbb7568fa3d84cee00ae899df.jpg

Coming out of the big vertical loop

028.thumb.jpg.3f90ee2d05e77200fd2d34ec2501c951.jpg

Thanks for reading! This entire visit was actually only about 3 hours, but it was more than enough time.

 

For risk of sounding like a broken record, the thing I keep saying about Cedar Fair parks also held true here. The park looks outstanding, better than ever. Everything was extremely clean, freshly painted, and landscaped. The little details really show in a small park like this, the place really shined. Thanks Dorney Park for a great visit, I'll be looking forward to a return trip!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Nice report. I like Dorney for basically all of the same reasons you do. Its certainly a very nice, clean park. Enthusiasts seem to trash the place I guess because no new coasters = sh*tty park or something, but I appreciate the place for what it is. It's just an hour away and I haven't been since 2015/6? and as a KD passholder for the first time this year I feel like I should get over to Allentown at least once before seasons end. Thanks for sharing.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Great report. Thank you for reaffirming my decision to avoid Frontier unless they offer a deal so good I'd be stupid to turn it down. That sounds like my experience with Spirit when they kept delaying and undelaying my flight.

 

I never realized that hill on Hydra was a pseudo station fly by. I've never had to wait in the station long enough to notice.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've always admired the color schemes on the coasters at Dorney. Talon and Hydra have been on my want to ride list for all the reasons you mentioned that make it slightly different than the other inverts.

 

Great update and congrats on surviving Frontier!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

As for Dorney, it's so funny to me that pretty much every one of these pictures could have literally been taken in 2008.

 

That goes for all the 'small' CF parks after the Paramount acquisition. Since 2007....no love for the small parks.

 

Thanks for the entertaining report though! Will have to get there someday. With the Morgan and Impulse Intamin it looks like VF with a little more to offer.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks again for all the comments, guys!

 

So, splitting the day in half, I left Dorney early in the afternoon and made the somewhat brief, uneventful drive to,

 

Six Flags Great Adventure

 

So, okay, this is a very well-documented park that most members have been to. I try to visit this park once a year or so, sometimes I even get there twice in a year. It's a huge park with a lot to do. I feel that it's kind of a bellwether and snapshot of the Six Flags chain as a whole. I've noticed that when the entire park chain is having a good season, Great Adventure is having a good season. The park has a little bit of everything Six Flags in terms of rides diversity, coasters, etc. You get to see the best and the worst of Six Flags at different points of any single visit. Anyways, I now really need to rip the band aid off, break the glass, and sound the alarm:

 

There are some serious issues with El Toro right now that need to be addressed.

 

I haven't seen anyone else post about this and I'm really surprised. I say this as someone who absolutely adores this coaster and has El Toro tied with Lightning Rod and Expedition GeForce as their #1 coaster. Okay, so maybe not everywhere on the entire coaster, but there are three spots on the coaster where the roughness and violence is so severe that I can't believe it's about to run an entire season like this. Namely, the turnaround, the "floater hill", and especially coming out of the Rolling Thunder hill. You seriously slam into such a hard pot hole at the bottom of the Rolling Thunder hill that I'm surprised I didn't have a stroke in my sleep that night after riding in a wheel seat. Middle rows of cars on the train were much more bearable. I got about 10 rides in total that day, including 4 back car, middle row at the end of the day, and I could have had more, but I had to walk away.

 

I rode Colossos in May 2015, just a few months before the big closure. This is how that felt. Now, as I said, this isn't everywhere, it's limited to these named spots, and to the best of my knowledge, Six Flags has done some re-tracking here and there (correct me if I'm wrong). But please, Six Flags, you have one of the absolute best coasters in the entire freaking world. Please make it right.

 

And with that, photo time.

001.thumb.jpg.09cb7ea12c271423f551a55449851589.jpg

Disney entrance arch ain't got sh*t on the chromed-out Six Flags sign in New Jersey. Wanna fight about it?

002.thumb.jpg.fc893cccd54a7bb008eaf6f9a5290fed.jpg

The obligatory Great Adventure parking lot shot. I arrived to find the parking lot the emptiest I think I've ever seen it.

003.thumb.jpg.70c305cbcdcc4366d8f2d1dc920ba72e.jpg

Guys...guys...Six Flags has actually re-painted something! This should be front page news right here. I'm happy to report that the parking lot poles have been FRESHLY PAINTED YELLOW.

 

F*ck, I should've put a great big watermark with my logo embossed in the photo for when this gets shared across the interwebs so everyone knows I took it first.

004.thumb.jpg.e97bb1fe27d4b0d88fbfc577b75f694d.jpg

Oh wait...Superman got painted too! Whaaaat is this craziness? Honestly, Superman looks about 10,000x better without the yellow rails.

 

Wait...maybe they intended to paint the rails yellow, but the guy doing the painting screwed up and painted the parking lot poles instead. I mean...they are RIGHT in front of Superman. Like, right there. In fact, the more I repeat this in my head, the more plausible and true it seems.

 

And there you have the process in which new coaster/ride rumors get started and subsequently get reported on Screamscape.

005.thumb.jpg.56acc0447efbb6330d12296a0912e898.jpg

Remember that time...when Six Flags actually themed an area of one of their parks? It almost seems untrue, but they actually did that once and they did it well. Why didn't this idea last?

 

The Golden Kingdom is probably the single nicest area of any Six Flags park, periodt.

006.thumb.jpg.01d89de440aa2c5b715692d7c7a1734f.jpg

Oh you know where this is going. I clearly have my phone in my hand to take a photo, so this is going straight to the fluffy bunny so I can ride El Toro.

007.thumb.jpg.f670d7bed304c87a05eeb16008365610.jpg

We pick it back up over in front of Green Lantern, formerly Chang at formerly Six Flags, now just Kentucky Kingdom.

 

Wouldn't it be cool if for Fright Fest they took Bizarro's trains and retractable floor system and traded with Green Lantern's stand-up trains and solid floors, then switched it back again after?

 

The funny thing about all these hypotheticals today is that they all sound exactly like something Six Flags would do.

008.thumb.jpg.33730b97baf081b2e55179c0f54e2d9b.jpg

And just like that we're magically over by Batman! Batman: the Ride: proving since 6 years before Dueling Dragons were built that B&M Inverts last a long time and their level of awesome lasts even longer! Not 1% of the greatness of Batman has been lost in its 26 years of existence. Not 1%.

009.thumb.jpg.ff80912b8d6bc5527a827f52cb734e27.jpg

For the first time in 4 or 5 years, I got some of those "legendary Nitro rides" that sometimes I pinch myself and ask if they're real or not.

 

For starters, the trains got a ton of maintenance in the off season. You could tell because they ran without a squeak or rattle and the restraint covers were fresh.

 

I have some friends who weirdly fetishize Mako, and since the layouts are so similar (at least the first 1/2) I always tell them about these rides on Nitro that can be had that crap all over Mako. To be clear, we're not talking Intamin hyper levels of great, but sometimes B&M hypers can deliver a ton of airtime and give extremely fun rides. This was one of those times.

010.thumb.jpg.06144c5e1e568c2f2b8e0eb46dd0f913.jpg

Back over to Plaza del Carnival, because if I'm going to be beaten up, it sure better be El Toro doing it.

011.thumb.jpg.8aa09efcb7bd345050c29515bbec130d.jpg

The bottom line, this coaster is still incredible and we are not worthy of the airtime these huge hills shower us with. El Toro is a masterpiece of a wood coaster and there's just nothing else like these rides. In a way, I'm almost glad the Intamin pre-fab woodies didn't catch on like RMC's rapid-fire growth. It makes us appreciate El Toro, Balder, Colossos, and T-Express all the more.

012.thumb.jpg.446b97c9e6cc7d1f6d6d3ebeac77695e.jpg

A train of riders about to be absolutely thrown into what I believe is the best first drop of any coaster. Funny how El Toro can be like 180 feet tall and stand right next to the tallest coaster in the world, far more than double its height, yet have the superior drop by a mile.

013.thumb.jpg.2f389e4b1e1a5f2d8a627dc2fd92e0b3.jpg

Hey, kids! Now that you have your diamond elite platinum plus extra special top-level exclusive membership, what better way to take advantage of how VIP you are than to bring more of your dollars to these other locations and spend them there too! Go to LaRonde!!!

 

 

Lol, but really, don't go to LaRonde.

014.thumb.jpg.56cc06dfcb6f1703901575925f7819fd.jpg

Oh, no, I didn't forget about her. She was being a b*tch that day and never opened. They did cycle 2 or 3 trains about 15 minutes before closing, though, likely in anticipation for the following day.

 

Ttyl!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Great report!

 

I agree El Toro had some bumps, but unless it got way rougher than it was opening day, it's still smoother than 90% of wooden coasters out there and I had no problem marathoning it. I really wonder how bad Colossos got to need a full rail replacement.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I agree about the bottom of the Rolling Thunder Hill desperately needing work. That’s the only spot on the ride where any of the roughness actually bothers me and at least as of the end of May even that spot was pretty smooth in a non wheel seat (is extremely jarring in a wheel seat)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think I'm the only TPR member who hasn't been to Great Adventure. Thank you for the reminder to get my ass out to Jersey.

 

 

I haven't been either! so love reading the reports. .thanks for sharing.

 

How long was the drive from Dorney to Great Adventure?

 

I had absolutely no idea it was so close that you could leave Dorney and still spend a good chunk of time at SFGA. . .otherwise during our trip thru Penn. a few years ago (where we ended with a few days in Philly), we would have made an effort to go to SFGA

 

but yeah. .gotta get to SFGA.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.

×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

Terms of Use https://themeparkreview.com/forum/topic/116-terms-of-service-please-read/