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Photo TR: TPR Behemoth/East Coast Trip 2008


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After a really fun time at Sesame Place, it came time to start the East Coast part of the tour, beginning with Coney Island. Now, for some background...

 

Back in the days when I wanted to be a filmmaker/world traveler, there were three places in the US that I wanted to go to along with my international travels: New York, Anaheim/Hollywood/LA, and Washington D.C. When my family finally made it to New York, we didn't go to Coney Island because my family had been warned that it wasn't safe. After two additional trips to New York over the next three years, I still hadn't been to Coney Island. So, getting to go during this trip was once again, all too surreal. Flash forward to current day, knowing that Thor was preparing to shut the place down, it made the visit even more special.

 

We started our time at Coney Island with two rides on the famous Cyclone, a coaster I had dreamed about riding since the time I could enjoy coasters. Padded with leather (for good reason) and covered in bright colors only faded by time, the ride is historical in every sense. The coaster's seats offered a far tighter fit, even for a guy of my size, but again, it is for good reason. The lift, skewing oddly to the left for a few seconds and then back to the center leads into a turning drop that had me slamming my riding partner (or the other way around) within the first five seconds of the post-lift ride. From then on in you are riding in a fantastic wooden journey with minimally banked turns and lots of jarring moments. Overall, I loved the ride, but I wasn't in the majority.

 

Our visit to Coney Island came complete with wristbands that gave us entry to the attractions at Deno's Wonder Wheel Park as well as Astroland. Astroland offered up a quick ride on Dante's Inferno, the most evil dark ride ever. The ride's outside portion relies on the car hitting the re-entry doors, and when the doors come back to close, they have to hit something--my arm just happened to be that something. So for the first time in my life, I was bitten by a ride. Evil.

 

Astroland also features a classic Wacky Worm, complete with a turntable station. The ride was pretty standard, but the turntable added some variety and made the experience far more fun.

 

After the Wacky Worm, we walked next door as the rain started to hit, trying desperately to grab our Sea Serpent credit (a clone of Ravine Flyer III, without the water). The ride had a fantastic op that made our circuit go from the standard three to a whopping six times around the track.

 

Following the Sea Serpent, we moved to Deno's Wonder Wheel, sitting on the swinging cars in what could be the scariest, most innovative ride of its time. I was hanging on for much of the ride.

 

Past that, we moved on, exploring Coney Island, hitting whatever dark rides were included in our wristband's coverage, including the fantastic Spook-a-rama. After a stop for dinner at the fantastic Nathan's (the original location), we headed back to the bus, stopping only for a second ride on Spook-a-rama and the park's drop tower.

 

The sun began to set, and a scarier crowd seemed to move in as we moved out, with us leaving at about the right amount of time. Coney Island was everything I expected and more, making the first park of the East Coast trip a real high point to start on...

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Sun down. Time for us to leave...

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Dante's Inferno: The most evil ride ever! Really.

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This photo has probably been taken billions of times.

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I love Nathans Deli!

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Spook-a-Rama's theming on the outside was just as incredible on the inside.

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The entrance to the ride looks like it hasn't been altered since the Wheel opened way back when.

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Deno himself in front of his Wonder Wheel.

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The famous Wonder Wheel.

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The history and architecture of the Parachute Tower just fascinates me to no end. I could take photos of this forever.

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Robb sets up his camera for a POV of the Cyclone.

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An amazing piece of history...

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Dave is excited to be here!

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Our first real Six Flags park of the trip was unique in that we spent two mornings there. Day 1 at Six Flags New England was our day without flash passes but with a full slate of ERT and a fantastic catered lunch at a private pavilion.

 

Our group was pretty laid back that day, hitting only the ERT credits and some flats, roaming the park since we would be able to hit the rest of the credits through the next day's ERT and use of Flash Passes.

 

ERT that morning started out with Batman and Mind Eraser. Batman is the park's B&M floorless coaster (the only Batman that isn't an inverted coaster, I believe). Having only been on Kraken at that point, Batman was an interesting experience for me due to the ride's compact layout and unique elements. It is not better than Kraken in my mind, but it was a fun ride that I went back for five times over the two visits.

 

Mind Eraser was our second SLC of the trip; a clone of the one at Darien Lake. Once again taking the advice of Matt Damon when riding, I pinned my head to the side of my restraint, which helped with the random jolts here and there. Overall, it was the most enjoyable SLC of the trip (and that says a whole lot), which, dare I say it, was reasonable smooth. Send in the Vekoma gravel-blasters to rough that track up fast!

 

Next up on ERT was our 45 minute session on our second Ride of Steel. Now, Darien Lake's had one layout, with Six Flags America's being a mirror, while SFNE's is a completely unique layout that most find to be the best of the three. I wasn't one of those people. Ride of Steel disappointed me somewhat, only because I had enjoyed so much airtime from the first drop until the end on Darien Lake's version. New England's ride seemed to keep me in my seat for the first few hills with the finale throwing me out of my seat. My favorite part of the ride was its twisted ending and misty tunnel run, which gained the ride points in my book. If Darien Lake got ride of its helixes and stole New England's finale, it would be incredible...

 

After Superman, TPR had ERT at the waterpark's Zooma Falls and Typhoon (the park's water coaster). I didn't get to go because my bag got "stuck" in a locker. I'll leave it at that.

 

Other memorable aspects of the visit: Houdini, Tomahawk and the catered lunch.

 

After lunch, it was time to leave Six Flags New England for the day so that we could make it to Lake Compounce that night for ERT. Along the way, we took a two-hour credit stop at Quassy. The park has two credits, Wild Mouse and Little Dipper.

 

James, Jes and I ran to Little Dipper, assuming that we'd beat the line of TPR members while they waited for Wild Mouse. The ops let us on the ride without any problems, and sent us on our way on one of the scariest, hand-built looking coasters I have ever been on.

 

After Little Dipper, we ran back to Wild Mouse, only to find that it started to rain. The ops covered the cars and shut down the ride at the first sign of lightning, but we waited. Pulling out our TPR ponchos, we waited out the storm and ended up being second in line for the ride, since everyone else had left. I was pretty nervous about Wild Mouse since everyone kept telling me it was rough, but I found it enjoyably smooth.

 

Following our ride on Wild Mouse, James and I ran to the Giant Slide, which is essentially a huge slide attached to a giant cardboard box. I couldn't tell what was scarier: walking up the cardboard stairs or sliding down the freakish slide.

 

Craving some fried dough at a cheap price, I went over to the park's concession stand and picked up what ended up being an Elephant Ear, but it was good. We went back to Wild Mouse while splitting the ear, talking to the crowd of TPR members as they waited to ride. Jason needed a riding partner, and asked if I'd be willing to join him. I enjoyed Wild Mouse, so I said yes and got one more ride in.

 

Back on the bus, we moved to Lake Compounce, which would become my favorite park of the trip.

 

Lake Compounce has four coasters: Boulder Dash (my number 1 wooden coaster after this day), Kiddie Coaster, Wildcat and Zoomerang. The park also has a great collection of flats as well as a fun shooting dark ride.

 

We started our evening at Lake Compounce indulging in the free soda offered around the park. Afterwards we walked to Wildcat (Garfield themed...) which wasn't too bad, but a little rough through some turns.

 

Zoomerang was our next coaster, and you guessed it, another Vekoma Boomerang. It wasn't too bad for a Boomerang, but it still had some head banging typical of the Vekoma name.

 

Kiddie Coaster was initially a denied credit, but thanks to Robb and Elissa, we had a quick session of pre-Boulder Dash ERT that night.

 

And now, to Boulder Dash. We rode it once before ERT and I think everyone in our group was blown away. The ride is built on the side of mountain (or at least a very large forested hill) and its layout is absolutely incredible in that it catches you off guard every time.

 

The night's ERT session on Boulder Dash was my favorite ERT session of the trip thanks to my 20 rides, the awesome ride op and the pitch black ride setting which we had for the session. Since that session, Boulder Dash has been at the top of my top ten wooden roller coasters, and one of the top coasters on my list in general.

 

Other memorable aspects of the visit: Rotor, Ghostblasters, Skycoaster, Flyers, Thunder and Lightning S&S Screamin' Swing and the free soda.

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A display of Boulder Dash's well deserved awards!

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The ride op wanted me to put this photo online...

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Our awesome Boulder Dash ride op and I!

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Boulder Dash ERT had everyone excited!

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Statue credit!

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My first S&S Screamin' Swing was really fun!

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Several of these dummies have had their head's shaved, but a few lucky ones kept their prized hair.

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The death stare scares me...

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"I'm not having a good time... Why are we here?"

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Quassy has an old-school mouse called Wild Mouse that is really fun.

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Day 2 at Six Flags New England (this photo is here because it is my last photo of SFNE), I got my Dave Wilson eats disgusting food bingo sqaure.

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I wanted the wheel, but not enough to do the task that Robb asked of us...

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James is excited by the Intamin wheel...

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I hate Looney Tunes. I'm not sure why I took this photo.

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Mr. Six is on par (in my book) with the "More Flags" guy.

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Welcome to Six Flags New England!

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Robb meets with Six Flags New England management before ERT.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Sorry for the major delay in updates but school has been keeping me busy for the last month or so... But, to make it up to you, I've got another long update filled with text and some photos here and there.

 

Our second morning at Six Flags New England started up with ERT on Pandemonium and Flashback. Those of us that wanted to get a few rides in on Pandemonium (Jes and I, as well as some others) went straight to Flashback to get it over with.

 

Flashback is the park's standard Vekoma Boomerang. Not the most painful, but not the smoothest either--the ride took us up the lift hill as we all chatted through the slow ascent. At about three-fourths of the way up the lift, we felt an abrupt creak as the entire train shimmied. The lift stopped, as did we. The first ride of the day was the first breakdown of the day for us--and for the TPR observers on the ground, another Elissa Bingo square filled. After about five minutes of waiting, the lift process resumed and a few seconds later we were dropped backwards through the station, cobra roll, loop and up the second lift, just to go back through the course one more time.

 

After our ride on Flashback, we went over to Pandemonium where we would test our theory of increasing the spin on a car (like we had on Whirlwind at Seabreeze). After four rides, we had a decent set of spins and were ready to go back to Superman: Ride of Steel for some more morning ERT. Just as good as the day before, the ERT was definitely fun.

 

Day two at Six Flags New England meant Flash Passes (Q-bots), which had us excited. Three groups of four paired up to make twelve (though we ended up picking up a straggler along the way); making lines a thing of the past.

 

We moved onto Catwoman's Whip, a kiddie coaster with an extremely long train and a statue that made Brent really happy... It also featured an incredible view of the Dark Knight's Glow in the Park Football/Golf multipurpose arena/field/swamp... I'll say no more on that.

 

We hit Scream (the park's S&S tower), Thunderbolt (a really fun old school woodie), Great Chase (a credit whore's favorite kiddie coaster), Cyclone (a really fun but jarring woodie with an odd layout) and Catapult, the park's S&S Sky Swat. The Sky Swat has to be my least favorite amusement ride ever ridden. Now I know what it feels like to be put on a panini press...

 

After that, the Prize Gang decided to hit the arcade to wins some prizes on Deal or No Deal and Stacker. It wasn't our most successful prize stop, but we did come back with a few pieces of candy.

 

After lunch, we left Six Flags New England for our surprise park. Most of us hadn't figured it out at that point, even though Rye Playland was listed as one of the parks on our shirts but not on our schedules.

 

Rye Playland has five coasters: a wild mouse, Dragon Coaster (a historical wooden), a kiddie wooden, a steel kiddie and Super Flight (a Zamperla flyer). We were able to get on all but the kiddie wooden, but none of the coasters were worth an in depth review.

 

The park also features several great flats including a gravitron (and its very own Dance King), two fantastic dark rides, a hall of mirrors, and the Sky Skate--which we broke.

 

Our visit to Rye was extremely fun as it was another unique park with some pretty fun attractions. Oh, and we won tons of prizes in the park's arcade. I consider Rye's Prize Raid to be one of the best runs we had throughout the trip, but I'll let the photos do the talking.

 

The next day we moved on to Six Flags Great Adventure. We started off with a quick period of ERT on the new Dark Knight coaster. The ride, though overhyped by Six Flags was under hyped by the public. It is a mouse in a box with some cool effects and a knack for stealing Tyler's phone. One holographic effect really got me and the pre-show had me entertained, but the ride was pretty basic beyond that. I do prefer it to the swamp that has become the intended location for Six Flags New England's to-be version of the ride.

 

On to El Toro, I was greatly anticipating this ride after all of the serious hype. Not to say that I was disappointed, because I wasn't--I just wasn't as blown away as most, likely because of how incredible Boulder Dash had been during our ERT. It really was great and incredibly smooth--I don't really think it can be made out of wood.

 

The one coaster I had anticipated most on the trip was, of all things, Kingda Ka. After watching countless videos about it, I knew I was going to love it. I waited to ride in the front row just to make it the best first ride possible, and it worked. The launch was absolutely breath-taking (and eye-drying) and everything after that seemed to go by without notice, mostly because of my shock from our 0 to 128 mph motion. My photo was priceless and I was going to use my voucher to print it had the person managing the photo booth hit the delete button rather that of the print.

 

Saddened by my lack of photo, I figured I'd get one later that day. We re-assembled into our Q-bot groups once more and decided to hit Rolling Thunder's dueling sides once each. Afterwards we went on to ride Great American Scream Machine, Superman - Ultimate Flight and Medusa. As we queued up for Medusa, it began to pour, and our group was separated. Half of us were loaded onto a train while the others waited for the next. Too bad the ride shut down after our train to wait out the storm. We regrouped as the queue emptied just to find that all other rides in the park except the Dark Knight and Fly Me to the Moon 3-D were closed. We tried the 3-D movie, bypassing what looked like a two hour line, immediately entering the pre-show area. The film was just a cut of the feature film with added 3-D visual effects and an odd set of simulator motions. It wasn't really worth the time.

 

Next we moved back to the Dark Knight, and rode it twice more. The rain wouldn't stop. TPR had scheduled a mandatory meeting for 5:00 pm that day so that we could catch up in case the rain had shut everything down--and sure enough, it had. In what was a near unanimous decision, we decided to give up on the park for the day and get an early start on our long drive to Williamsburg, Virginia.

 

We left the park without hesitation and made our long ride to the Busch Gardens area of Williamsburg. Getting in with plenty of time to spare, our group decided to go for a nice meal at Chili's for fajitas and good food. And so our day ended with an early nights rest and a good meal (not in that order).

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A great end to the day!

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The Chili's group was awesome!

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Photo #2.

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1 of two photos I took at Six Flags Great Adventure during our visit.

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"Stuck with you" by Huey Lewis comes to mind when I see this photo...

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The Deal or No Deal Champions!

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The Prize Gang strikes again!

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And we hadn't even broken it yet...

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Can you find what is wrong with this picture?

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And how was your ride?

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Rye's Dragon Coaster has tons of history to it...

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^Thanks again Jason!

 

Six Flags America is one of those parks I just didn't take any photos of. So, my report for the park will likely be more in depth, so here goes...

 

We started our morning with a nice load of ERT scheduled at our next Six Flags park. With this park, I had no expectations. I hadn't heard positives like those associated with Great Adventure or New England. I hadn't heard any negatives either. The park was essentially a blank slate for me, so I was ready for whatever would follow that day.

 

Our ERT was set to start at Wild One, the park's historic wooden coaster. After getting in the train and strapping in, we hit a sudden stop when the ops told us they would need to have us exit the ride so they could test the coaster for a few runs. After a few tests, they told us that we'd need to come back. So, the head of PR escorted us backstage so that we could quickly move on to Superman: Ride of Steel. Once in the queue, we were hit with another breakdown (TPR was on a roll today), so we were sent back to Wild One, which was working when we got back. Wild One was pretty fun with a few good pops of airtime, and was fairly smooth for an old woody.

 

Next, we moved on to Batwing, the park's Vekoma flyer (my first Vekoma flyer ever). I was definitely apprehensive about starting a ride on a lift backwards with no idea when we would reach the top. Though a little rough at times, the ride was definitely fun--though not as good as a B&M flyer.

 

The park management, as a sign of thanks for patience during the break downs opened up Joker's Jinx as well for us before the park prepared to open. My first ever Spaghetti Bowl coaster (one of two on the trip) was also really fun. Matt, Brent and I spent the rest of the ERT on Joker's Jinx before moving onto the other credits in the park.

 

Two-Face: The Flip Side was unfortunately closed during our visit (though it hasn't opened since, as far as I know), so we kept going. Onto Mind Eraser, we experienced the 2nd worst SLC of the trip, rivaled only by Flight Deck at Canada's Wonderland.

 

Next was Roar, the wooden twister. I was disappointed with the ride itself--it was smooth (for the most part), but it just seemed to be a little uninteresting. Once was enough for us.

 

We finished off by getting our Great Chase credit, which was the standard Road Runner/Wyle Coyote coaster found at the Six Flags parks--nothing special, but definitely fun.

 

And so our day at Six Flags America ended pretty quickly as we moved on to Busch Gardens Europe the next day.

 

Other moments of note: the weird drop tower, Wonder Woman, Mr. Penguins Blizzard River, the lunch buffet!

 

Busch Gardens Europe was definitely one of my more anticipated parks of the trip, partially because of my love for Anheiser-Busch parks. I've been a passholder for Seaworld Orlando and Busch Gardens Africa since the time I was four, and had plenty of experience with the parks to anticipate Europe. And honestly, after seeing how well Busch had done with Sesame Place, I was excited to see what they could do with a full-fledged park in the middle of the Virginia woods.

 

In what would be regarded as one of my favorite parks on the trip, we started our morning at Griffon for a filming session. Unfortunately, due to my age, I was unable to be on the official shoot train, but park management graciously operated a second, non-filming train for those not involved in the shoot.

 

Griffon, the sister to Tampa's Sheikra is taller (by five feet) and wider (by two seats) with an extra immelman thrown in the mix. While I loved the wider trains (sitting on the far right seat in the front row is really incredible) and the small pop of air before the splashdown, I have to admit that I still prefer Sheikra. Both provide an incredible amount of airtime, and both are great, but for some reason I just prefer Tampa's ride to this one.

 

Park management was also gracious enough to open Alpengeist for us while the shoot continued. Alpengeist is the larger brother of Tampa's Montu. Much like my comparison between Sheikra and Griffon, I seemed to prefer Montu to Alpengeist. Alpengeist is much larger in scale with far more intense elements and is truly a fun coaster--but I've never felt the blood rush into my feet like I did on Alpengeist to the point where I was scared to ride anymore. While I still enjoyed Alpengeist, I thought the appeal of the tightly-woven B&M inverted coaster was lost on the largely strewn out layout of Alpengeist.

 

After ERT on the coasters, we proceeded to The Curse of DarKastle, the park's Spiderman-like dark ride. Another anticipated moment of the trip, I had been looking forward to this for quite some time. We had a great tour guide (Bill was his name, I believe) who took us through the entire ride on foot, afterwards answering many of our questions. I asked several of my own questions, including that of Drachen Fire, InBev and future projects. Others contributed some great questions (barring a few-- "Do you have white beer?") as well. And just when we thought the tour couldn't get any better, they let us ride the ride for real, making the experience even better. DarKastle is definitely a great attraction (I wish we could have something like it at Busch Gardens Africa), so the tour was well worth it!

 

Afterwards, we continued on to Loch Ness Monster, which this year turned 30 years old. I had fairly low (but excited) expectations for this coaster because of the effect Python had on me in its last week of operation. I assumed that if Python was terrible as it was, Loch Ness could only be as bad, if not worse. Boy, was I wrong! Loch Ness has to be the smoothest Arrow Looper I've ever been on, and definitely my favorite. The ride has some great drops, two fantastic loops and a very unique layout. Long live the Loch Ness Monster! I'm glad that Python's trains went to good use here at Busch Gardens Europe, as the Loch Ness Monster has earned them! 30 years later and I can honestly say it was my favorite coaster in the park!

 

Thanks to our Quick Queue passes, we breezed through the park for the rest of the day, picking up souvenirs and ride photos (to be posted at the end of the entire TR) as we went along. We got to ride Apollo's Chariot several times that day without the pass, but that was because of how efficient the ops were for the ride--another sign of Busch-quality operations. Apollo's Chariot is somewhat overhyped in my opinion, having sat both in the front row and back. It was good--but not as good as everyone made it out to be. I don't know if it is just because I spent so much time on Behemoth in the previous week, but this hyper just didn't get to me like it did others.

 

With our Quick Queue, we proceeded to the water rides, Le Scoot and the Roman Rapids, both of which got us soaked. Afterwards we hit Escape from Pompeii, the first time without any effects, and the second with.

 

We even had time to hit the park's 3-D simulator, Corkscrew Hill. The story itself was semi-bizarre with several jokes regarding continuous shaking made from our group--it was odd.

 

The rest of the day we would continue to walk the park, ride the coasters more and blast riders on the Roman Rapids with set of amazing quarter-operated water jets. The only other moment of note during the day was our game of Water Wars. I personally cannot wait to watch the video because we just soaked each other. I played three full rounds, while some played two. The first was the full group. Armed with a slingshot and a bucket of water balloons, guests are meant to launch the balloons across the court to hit the tops of the individual huts, sending flurries of water rushing down onto the opposite warrior. Though some of us adhered to the "slingshot-only policy" others left their hut with balloons in hand and decided to use their arms as their slingshots.

 

Round two was just between Max and me, pitted in a major water war. I hit Max several times with the larger water bombs, soaking his top half beyond recognition. Then, just when I thought I was free of his return volley, the brat next to me decided to take one his largest water bombs and chuck it at my side, soaking me in the process. Caught off guard by the attack, Max proceeded to leave his hut carrying his last two balloons--slamming both into my other side, thus leaving me soaked on both sides. One more time meant revenge on Max, and I definitely hit him hard!

 

That night, we had ERT on Big Bad Wolf, the park's Arrow Suspended Swinging coaster. I'd heard nothing but good things about the coaster, so I anticipated the session for sure. Though the trains shimmied a little at times (and seemed to shed silver shards of metal), it was an overall fun ride that was boosted in thrill by the dark surroundings of the Virginia woods.

 

We ended ERT and headed back to the bus after another great day, ready to move on to our next park, Kings Dominion...

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The sun sets on Griffon as our visit at Busch Gardens Europe comes to a close...

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So many things could be said... We love the Fudges!

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Elissa's dad had a question to be answered...

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This is way better than the face in the Matterhorn at Nara Dreamland!

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Even more spooky and eerie!

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Did I rotate this photo the wrong way?

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"Coaster-people make the greatest food for a fireplace monster... Om nom nom!"

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Even the maintenance bay entryway is themed! Another sign of Busch-quality!

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Enter the library.

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Ludwig doesn't look so unhappy here... Its a shame he became a vengeful ghost/werewolf/monster.

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Are we tilting or is that what you're supposed to think?

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Josh was definitely happy to be here!

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Guess who is filming you...

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Spooky even with the lights on.

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Let the tour begin...

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Busch Gardens Europe has its own Coaster Dynamix model of Alpengeist. It also sells Alpengeist and Griffon model trains by Coaster Dynamix.

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We had ours--do you have yours?

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Its time for some DarKastle!

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One thing that Busch always does right with its coasters--theming!

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Through the trees! Does this count?

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Hello beautiful!

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Alpengeist greets us on this morning...

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The day at Kings Dominion for me was one of curiosity and minor anticipation. Another park filled with credits, ERT and a Q&A lunch session with park management, I had my hopes up. Our experience at Canada's Wonderland under Cedar Fair's management had been pretty spectacular for Behemoth Bash and it didn't leave the bad taste in my mouth that many had warned CF management would during my visit. I hoped the same would come with Kings Dominion. Another of the former Paramount parks, I had the hope that my visit would be similar to my Kings Island visit back in 2004.

 

We started our morning out with a half-hour on Dominator, the newly relocated B&M floorless from the former Geauga Lake Park. Immediately standing out at the entrance of the park, its bright yellow loop (the same color scheme that the ride touted in its previous location) and an orange finish. Now, I'm a sucker for blue paint on B&Ms (SeaWorld Orlando is heaven to me for that reason alone), so the supports also helped get my attention. Compared to The Dark Knight at Six Flags New England, this was much larger in scale (somewhat comparable to Kraken) and far more intense. The ride is smooth and fun with some great elements and, if timed right, a good fly-by moment with the trains starting and finishing the ride. I was glad this piece of Geauga Lake history was saved, and it seems like its new home was in need of this staple attraction...

 

After Dominator we moved on to Volcano, the Blast Coaster for another half hour of ERT. The coaster's launch caught me off guard, and the ride's twists were definitely interesting. But, as great as the ride was, I found myself more avidly starring at the barren space inside of the Volcano itself. The history buff inside me was beaming when I found out that the inside of the Volcano used to host several attractions, one including the Smurfs. Looking all around me for traces of the previous occupants, I was fascinated by all that I saw, even if it was a few footers or track imprints here and there.

 

Following Volcano, we went on our credit run:

 

Back Lot Stunt Coaster- Just as "wonderful" as all others. No working effects. Dark tunnels with weird transitions. The same old bag.

 

Flight of Fear- I'd missed this one in Kings Island back in 2004, but after riding the outdoor version at Six Flags America, I wasn't too worried. Luckily, without OTSRs, it wasn't as bad as I expected. Though, the darkness of the ride itself was completely disorienting--more than I've ever felt.

 

Ricochet- Just like The Fly at Canada's Wonderland. A weird model of the mouse, but fun regardless.

 

Hurler- Rough and wild. Not sure how they could have tied this into Wayne's World back in the days of Paramount, but I'm not sure it matters.

 

Shockwave- Closed. Shame considering I enjoyed its clone at Canada's Wonderland.

 

Rebel Yell- Shaky but fun. A classic out and back racer, both sides facing forwards. It seems that made the ride a little safer, according to PTC.

 

Avalanche- A Mack bobsled--my first. It was an interesting coaster but the seating configuration makes for some awkward situations... I'll say no more.

 

In between our coaster splurge, we had the opportunity to take part in the Scooby Doo Haunted Mansion Challenge. By averaging scores from two rides on the Sally dark ride, we were ranked among other participants from the group. The first ride I did really well beating Alan to shame. The second time--not so much. Needless to say my average was not so great leaving me without a top three ranking; also giving Alan plenty of room to gloat.

 

Back to credits, we went after Scooby-Doo's Ghoster Coaster but it had too long of a line. Taxi Jam was another missed credit due to our height but that was expected.

 

It was then time for our lunch and Q&A session with management. We had a pretty interesting chat regarding the park and its many aspects, but I won't go in depth on that... At the end of our meal and session, we were given Walk-On Wednesday passes for Drop Zone, Anaconda, Backlot Stunt Coaster, Dominator and Grizzly, so we went on to finish off the day.

 

Anaconda- the park's Arrow looper lives up to its company brand. Rough at times, Matt and I were cracking up throughout the entire ride. It was painfully funny.

 

Grizzly, the last of the credits we needed for our visit was filled to the brim with guests [mostly] waiting patiently to get onto the next train. Needless to say, they didn't like when we walked onto the ride in less than a minute, stealing the front car with ease. Though most hated Grizzly, I found it to be pretty enjoyable; definitely one of the better wooden coasters on the trip (though far below any of those that made my top 7).

 

We went on to Drop Zone with a slow dispatch but great drop. A decent tower, and my first Gyro Drop; it was pretty good.

 

One more ride on Backlot Stink Coaster and Dominator before we left, and we were off. We drove back to New Jersey that night in preparation for our next day at Morey's Piers...

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"Scooby, Scooby Doo, looking for you..."

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Maximum R.P.M. laughs at you (or at least it did)...

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Not the worst, but definitely not the best.

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Wow. Just wow.

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The standard Paramount Eiffel Tower stands tall at Kings Dominion.

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This twisted mass of steel is just beautiful!

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Kings Dominion highlights the ride's loop because they are so proud... And they have good reason to be.

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Interlocking corkscrews are always fun...

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Dominator greets us!

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Ahh, Kings Dominion, it is better than Disney if you only like riding coasters. KD was my 4th Eiffel Tower and I've never been to Paris (for the record KI, Vegas, Epcot and KD).

 

I thought Volcano was great until it went out the top, then it was kind of blah for me.

 

It will be interesting to see what attraction KD gets next, better than Behemoth or Diamondback?

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  • 4 weeks later...

Sorry again for the delay, but between school, frequent Manta updates and several other busy tasks, I've been bogged down with work! But, I plan on completing the entire report within the next week, so may the wrap-up begin!

 

After our "superior" day at Kings Dominion, I was ready for Morey's Piers--one of my more anticipated locales of the trip. You may wonder why I would look forward to this visit so much, but after my visit, I was more than satisfied with the hype and the wait. For those of you that don't know, Morey's Piers are a set of three amusement piers along the Jersey Shore, each with unique rides and attractions. Not only is the pier known for its thrills, but its boardwalk style setup made for an extremely relaxing and fun walking experience.

 

We started our morning walking up to the first pier for our film shoot on Fly! The Great Nor'Easter, the first North American SLC to receive the new Vekoma trains. Management graciously gave us lots of goodies (a Fly! /Make-a-Wish shirt, coupons for an amazing seafood restaurant and a detailed packet of information about the piers) and prepared us for our ride on Fly!.

 

The Great Nor'Easter fascinated me first and foremost for its layout--how tightly wound around the water park and log flume it was. If there was anything that scared me about the ride, it was how close to the other parts of the pier you could get.

 

Once on the ride, I was fortunate to sit next to Luko, who I would spend a little more time with the following day at Hersheypark. He and I were cracking up throughout the duration of the ride, laughing at the interesting twists that our bodies were being subjected to. The new restraints were definitely more comfortable, but I honestly missed the strange padded "elephant ears" on the SLC restraints (like the ones found on the many Mind Erasers we rode earlier), as I no longer had a pad to pin (or brace) myself to. Overall, the ride was more than enjoyable, and definitely one of the better SLCs, winning the honor of keeping me on the ride for over ten times while other Mind Erasers only got a maximum of two.

 

Moving on, we had ERT on Pier #1 for an hour, with AtmosFEAR, Great Nor'Easter, Condor, Doo Wopper, Flitzer, Zoom Phloom and Dante's Dungeon. Doo Wopper and Flitzer were the other two credits of the pier, which were both fun. Dante's Dungeon was better than Dante's Inferno at Coney Island--so much so that we re-rode it two more times.

 

After an hour on Pier 1, we moved on to Pier 2. Pier two hosted our ERT session on Sea Serpent, Pirate's of the Wildwoods, Musik Express and Maelstrom. Sea Serpent was a typical boomerang--not bad, not great. Musik Express had me cracking up while Mike Fudge was praying for the ride to end--I'm waiting for those photos to surface eventually. Pirate's of Wildwood is a strange little dark ride in 3-D in which pirates take over Morey's Piers. It was uniquely fun, warranting several re-rides.

 

Pier 2 also was the location for our lunch at a restaurant called Jumbo's where we had some great seafood. I ordered some crab bisque and a crab cake while James got himself a full lobster dinner--what a bargain!

 

Finally we moved to Pier 3 for our shoot at Great White, an interesting wooden coaster that goes above, around and under the pier. After about 6 rides I called it quits, and left with the Fudges and a few others to head back to Pier 1 for some additional flats. On the way, we stopped in some of the arcade locations, one of which gave us the chance to watch Dave enter the Money Machine, but that is a story for another time...

 

I also indulged in one of my favorite fried foods of the trip: Fried Dough! It was actually incredible good, though it didn't really have any point. To quote Dave (he actually said this in regards to the dish), "Meh. It exists." It was also extremely messy thanks a wonderful breeze and a plate full of powered sugar...

 

We finished off our visit at Morey's and drove off for about a half hour, making it to Clementon in great time. Clementon is a pretty small park--smaller than Cypress Gardens even. It has one wooden rollercoaster, a log flume and a collection of small flats.

 

The park's coaster, currently named Hellcat (also previously named J2, Puma and Tsunami) is a pretty bizarre ride that had me cowering after the third run. That was it for me.

 

The Fudges and I also made the severe mistake of riding the Balloon Race. Imagine a suspended version of the teacups, and there you have it--a ride from hell. I have never felt sick after riding a flat ride (or any ride for that matter) before this one experience, and I can admit that all three of us were pale by the end of the ride.

 

To try and feel a little better, we thought some water would help, so we rode the log flume. Unfortunately, I was the odd man out, so riding alone in the log made for another scary experience.

 

After that, lightning and rain approached and considering that much was closing, we called it an early night on Clementon and headed out for an early start towards our hotel to prepare for our upcoming day at Hersheypark.

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Stewarts didn't feature its peach soda... What a shame!

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The history of The Great Nor'Easter.

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I was really impressed with the setup of the waterpark as well.

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A look down Pier 1...

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This flyby really freaked me out!

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The pier's waterpark surrounds the ride, which in turn, wraps around its many structures.

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Inversions aplenty on the Nor'Easter!

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It is pretty amazing how close the ride gets to the Zoom Phloom.

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The TPR crew is ready for a ride on this great SLC!

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^^ and ^ Thanks very much!

 

After a wonderful bus ride back from Clementon (I slept for quite some time during this ride), we got back to our hotel with plenty of time to spare for rest. Needless to say, I passed out within five minutes of getting in bed, readying myself for the exciting day to come.

 

Hersheypark was another one of those parks that I'd anticipated because of the history, prestige and hype the park had to its name. With a large catalogue of coasters as well as the promise of a chocolate heaven in Chocolate World, I was definitely stoked.

 

We started our morning at the park with some ERT on Stormrunner and Fahrenheit--both Intamin--both interesting.

 

We decided to hit Stormrunner first so that we could spend the majority of ERT on Fahrenheit (which ended up being a pretty smart move). Stormrunner, my second Intamin accelerator was pretty fun with a unique layout. The positives included the launch, its wonderful top hat and role into the brake run. The negatives were the length of the ride and the terrible restraints which seemed to jackhammer the sides of my neck, leaving some strange bruises that would only be battered further on Fahrenheit.

 

Fahrenheit was the newest coaster addition for the park, sporting a 90 degree lift, 97 degree drop, a Norwegian loop, a cobra roll and a fantastic airtime hill. All of the elements listed above made the ride enjoyable, but again the coaster was a victim to a short ride time and terrible restraints which had even sharper bars that would hit my already pained neck once more.

 

After ERT, those of us that were willing to get soaked for a credit headed over to Roller Soaker. The suspended coaster carries one-time water droppers to drench guests below, though the ride's surrounding water-place allows for those same guests to hit the riders (normally harder than the riders could possibly hit them). Dave Fudge and I made the mistake of sitting in the front seat, taking the full force of the geyser blasts that would engulf our train throughout the ride. Afterwards, having already been blasted by fellow TPR members, we took revenge on those same folks, getting them soaked by the same geyser which blasted us earlier.

 

Following our wet and wild ride on Roller Soaker, many of us stopped for a quick nosh (yes, nosh) on some incredible Nathan's hotdogs in the boardwalk section of the park. Afterwards, still being mildly wet, we decided to take the plunge (pun intended) and ride Canyon River Rapids, which would be closing two days after our visit. Personally, I think the ride was evil for its "cheap" soaker spots where it was impossible to escape without having a bucket of cold water poured all over. It was definitely fun, but not worth re-riding again.

 

Following the wetness of the previous two attractions, we moved on to Wildcat, Sidewinder and Comet, all of which were fun but not deserving of a review. Sooperdooperlooper, Reese's Challenge and Wild Mouse followed afterwards, all of which were too simple to go into detail about.

 

The gang decided to take a short break from the park to head over to Chocolate World, which was included in our park admission. The place was pretty surprising with a unique omnimover-like ride system for its informative attraction about how Hershey's chocolate is made. The process includes a group of singing cows, a terrible theme song that rivals "Boo to You," some plastic looking machines and a little bit of cocoa here and there... After exiting the ride, you get a sample of the latest Hershey's product (we got a chocolate called Bliss), leading you out towards the magnificent gift shop.

 

The gift shop itself had my eyes bulging the entire time at the sight of 16 pound Reese’s cups, 30 pound Hershey bars (I almost won one during lunch, but lost it in a wicked round of Rochambeau) and other wonderfully sinful creations. I resisted the urges to buy all that I saw but did indulged in a white chocolate tart as well as a piece of chocolate cheesecake--both were heavenly.

 

After we were done with Chocolate World, we went back to Hersheypark to get the rest of our credits in before the end of the day. Trailblazer was unfortunately closed that day, so there was one missed credit. Great Bear ended up being our last credit before ERT--the B&M inverted coaster quickly rose to the top of my inverted list thanks to its unique layout and support structure. Both times I rode it; I was caught off guard by the uniquely forceful helix at the beginning as well as its fun hops over the river which runs beneath it.

 

So, the time came for another round of ERT, this time solely taking place on Lightning Racer, the dueling wooden GCI racer. This one surprised me beyond belief, with one of the greatest ERT staffs we had seen (since Boulder Dash's wonderful op) as well as a great ride full of airtime, strip lights, twists, turns and of course, WANK! (Sorry Mike, but I had to include it for historical purposes.) Lighting Racer's Lightning side constantly won against Thunder, prompting its higher placement on my top #25 wooden coaster list.

 

After an incredible hour of ERT, it was time to once again leave the park and move on to our next location. The night's drive would bring us to our hotel which placed us directly across the street from Dorney Park, providing us with a preview from our room windows of what would come the following day.

 

Other memorable moments of the day include: the Hersheypark monorail, Matt's bag-o-crap video, Max, prize hunting, the (unfortunate) trashing of all remaining Prize Gang prizes by Mike, Rochambeau and TPR Trivia.

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It looks so good!

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Time for some lunch and trivia!

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One of the few Fahrenheit photos I have.

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John and I discussed Schwartzkopf in depth while in line for Sooperdooperlooper... Notice Great Bear's glorious track behind him.

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He escaped my knawing grip in time to grab a quick group photo before attempting to make us pay for a more shoddy version of the same photo... Oh wait, that was the photo lady's fault!

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There is no other mascot that I would ever consider eating...Except maybe Sackboy, but he's just too cute--you could just eat him up!

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Chocolate makes the world go round...

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For the price, we took a really BIG pass on this 3-D film.

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"It's the milk chocolate!... It's the milk chocolate!... It's the milk chocolate!..."

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The log flume, Great Bear and Sooperdooperlooper all cover this riverside plot of land.

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Great Bear towers over the area...

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Adam, I live how you elaborate on the day as a whole rather than just sticking to pictures! My memory is nowhere near that good since my mind has been completely trashed since I've been at college ever since the trip ended.

 

I remember when Mike threw away the prizes - that sure caused some trouble later in the evening.

 

My only regret is not getting to ride their shoot the chutes ride which looked awesome, as well as Trailblazer (Jahan was emotionally devastated when he saw it was closed). Despite this being our second missed credit due to closure, it was still great considering it was also our 2nd TFD (Tony-Free Day).

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Pffft, the Bag O' Crap of prizes really were crap, and deserved to be chucked away anyway.

 

Excellent report Adam. I too am liking the elaboration of the day as a whole, and not just masses of random photos.

 

Hersheypark was a decent day, until certain people did things that really annoyed me. I'm sure that before the trip I warned people that I can get emotional very quickly, about really random things, and I think Hersheypark was the second time on the trip that I got emotional. This then caused me to miss out most of the Dorney day.

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I've never been to any parks on the east coast but for those of you who went what was the best mediocre park? Not counting parks like SFGADV and big ones like that.

Knoebels for sure. Despite being small, it was amazing. Phoenix and Twister are among my favorite coasters!

 

I would not consider this park to be "mediocre" due to it's excitement because it was the most fun I have ever had at a park of it's size. Heck, it beat out most Cedar Fair (and several Six Flags) parks I have been to!

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Thanks for all of the replies guys! I'm really enjoying getting to write out these recaps (something I've not done before for any other report) and though I'm looking forward to finishing up, I will miss being able to do this once I reach the end.

 

Picking up where we left off, after a great night's rest at the Dorney Hotel (I believe that is what it’s called); I woke up ready for another great day. Dorney Park ended up being another one of those surprise gem parks where everything we did was not only fun but relaxing and memorable.

 

Though this wasn't the first Cedar Fair owned park we visited on the trip (we had already been to Kings Dominion and Canada's Wonderland), I felt that since this park had been owned and operated by them for quite some time, it would be my first real Cedar Fair experience. Our morning was filled with a round of incredible perks--management knew how to treat us! Things were definitely looking positive for the park from the start of our day...

 

Our ERT began with a half hour on Steel Force. My first ever Morgan hyper (let alone my first Morgan coaster), I was [more than] pleasantly surprised to find that the coaster delivered a nice amount of airtime (especially in its latter half)--definitely a solid ride! Though ERT was set to end there so we could start our backstage tour, management had other plans for us!

 

Giving us a little taste of both new and old, we were granted the ability to ride Laser (knowing this would be its last season) as well as Voodoo (knowing that this was its first season) before we started our tour. Laser was my third Schwarzkopf (having ridden Scorpion and Mindbender previously) and a pretty fun ride. The loops were forceful and the coaster was smooth, so I was again, happily impressed.

 

Voodoo was another first for me, being my premier LIM Impulse Shuttle (if that’s what it can be classified as). The launch was great, catching me off guard each time, as was the incredible holding brake (again, if that is what it is called) in the last circuit. Another one of those great surprises...

 

Following our ERT, we began our ascent, moving up the hilled terrain towards the former guest parking lot onto the backstage area. Treated to a grand view of the park's skyline (you'll see below in the photos), we were once again given a real sight to see. Led by our wonderful guide Chuck, we moved in to the giant warehouse structure where maintenance work on the park as well as Halloween Haunt preparation was underway. The tour itself was a real joy to take part in, giving me a real insight that I had not had in the non-franchised park's operations and history.

 

Exiting out at the water park, we were given $20 worth of Dorney Dollars to use for food or merchandise. My stomach called when we saw a Subway, so Brad, Matt and I stopped for some food--and it was great!

 

Afterwards, we moved on to try to get the rest of the credits in the park, planning to leave the park for a short amount of time so that I could get some homework done at the hotel and the guys could get a rest. Needless to say, our hotel's proximity made the day even better!

 

Before we took our break, we hit Thunderhawk, an awesome classic wooden coaster in the park. Though I was nervous about its state, it rode fantastic, warranting an additional two rides before we ended up breaking the coaster for John and Luko, in typical TPR trip fashion.

 

We rode Wild Mouse, a standard Reverchon catalog model with a terribly long line. It was decent but nothing special.

 

We then decided to take a bit of time to relax, going back to the hotel for some rest and (for me) homework. After nearly two hours of work, I (along with Brad) was ready to go back to the park to ride some more.

 

Meeting up with Matt, we rode on Hydra the Revenge, which was a fun little floorless. Again, not as good as Kraken but definitely better than Batman: The Dark Knight. Afterwards we moved on to Talon for an incredible ride. Talon, the park's B&M invert shot up to my #3 spot for inverts, only trumped by Great Bear and Montu.

 

As night began to fall and our hunger began to rise once more, we hit the one place we knew would satisfy once more--Subway! Another great sub had me full and ready for some late night ERT on Hydra and Talon. After 5 rides on Hydra (which runs better at night), we moved over to Talon for an incredible set of over 17 runs. Talon's ops also made the ERT plenty fun, except for their "stapling for fun" gag.

 

The night had come to an end as we headed back to our hotel for our final hotel night before the trip would come to an end. Tomorrow would be our last day.

 

Other memorable moments include: Bethany's stappling frenzy on Talon, Stacker, Subway and a giant pepsi.

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I'll end on a light note...

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"Woosh!"

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Here is the holding brake in action.

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The last few photos put the spotlight back on Voodoo.

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"I don't see any dead people..."

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"Ready for rap battles, closed park liquidations or your daughter's birthday party. Just call us for a quote."

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"It's street legal and comes with its own high-tech casket!"

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Dorney Park has its own fleet of herses, says Chuck.

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How many coasters can you count in this photo?

 

One-ah-ah-ah... Two-ah-ah-ah..."

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The skyline alone makes Dorney great!

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And so our tour begins...

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I love you.

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One more...

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An all-too-common artsy shot.

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"I take photos of people taking photos of me taking photos of them taking photos of me..."

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A flood of TPR members exit Voodoo after our ERT...

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I'm in love...

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Best attraction sign ever.

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Welcome!

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I'm excited already!

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This billboard greeted us from our hotel...

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Voodoo is a shining new addition to Dorney Park.

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