22 Days of Coasters- Day 12- Tropical Storms & Broken Hearts

[LiveForTheLaunch]

Day 1- Flight, Quassy, Compounce

The night before the trip was a bit ridiculous considering I didn't get home from a concert until nearly 3am and still hadn't packed or prepared for anything. Thankfully, my boyfriend is fab and had all my clothes washed from our Vegas trip a few days prior and had them put out for repacking. I procrastinated even more, slept for a whole hour, finally packed and was on my way around 5:30am. Matt dropped me off, probably relieved he was about to get rid of high maintenance me for three weeks!

Annoyingly I was in the North Terminal, since I had to break away from my Delta fangirlness and fly with United. That terminal is generally a bit busy, but it still only took me about twenty minutes to get through. I headed to McDonalds for a hashbrown and then sat down for some obligatory airport drinks.

I made my way to the gate right when we were boarding, only to find that I was flying in an ERJ-145. Not my favourite aircraft, but the one benefit is that you get both a window and an aisle seat all in one, since it's just a single row of seats on one side. Otherwise, it's cramped.

I enjoyed some wine on the plane, and before I knew it, I was descending into Newark after an hour and a half. The weather wasn't looking too great and the landing was rather rough, but I was too excited to care.

I met Tom at the baggage claim and had some chats with him while waiting like, 45 minutes for my bag to come. Delta is far superior than United! We had some time to kill anyway though, considering Ben and Darren's flight was due in slightly later than mine. I made a sign for them while I was waiting.

Once they got there, we gave hugs and made our way to the hire car area where we got our glam Dodge Charger.

Throughout the trip, we ranked each coaster on speed, intensity, inversions/airtime, and fun. These were our goony ranking sheets:

The first stop was Quassy. It was sort of an in and out kind of thing since there's not much there apart from Wooden Warrior and the kiddie cred. We had a hard time getting there at first though, because the GPS took us to a small cash point machine that was like, half an hour from the park. Eventually we got there though! The kiddie cred was different, but nothing super exciting. Darren and I rode Wooden Warrior in the front and I have to say, I was pleasantly surprised! I wasn't expecting such a small coaster to pack such a punch and have so much airtime. A lot of smaller parks would benefit from an addition like this, I think.

After our brief visit there, we went to Lake Compounce, home of the infamous Boulder Dash. All of us apart from Tom already had the cred, but it wasn't running good due to rain when I went back in 2012, so I was eager to get back on it. The first thing we did when we got there was the other wooden coaster, Wildcat. Me and Ben rode in the back, and though the coaster had a few okay moments, it was quite rough and not anything notable to be honest. I guess it's a lot better of a ride in the front.

I love the entrance of Lake Compounce! It's one of the better ones out there.

Zoomerang was next on the list. You know it's a good boomerang when two coaster enthusiasts willingly reride it! Nothing amazing though, but it's one of the better ones, and those trains add to the fabness!

After Tom tried stealing kids to get on the kiddie coaster and failing miserably, it was time to ride Boulder Dash. Annoyingly, everything at the park was running one train, so we had about a twenty minute wait for the front. It was running a lot better than it was the last time I went on it, and actually had airtime this time! Although I don't think it's a number one coaster, it's a quality ride set in a brilliant location. It moved up in my top ten after I went on it, but now is back where it was after I added so many things to my top ten throughout the trip!

After a few rerides and some free soda, we decided to call it quits and head to Outback Steakhouse for one of many dirty meals that were had on the trip! I opted for a coronarita and a martini with a quesadilla to eat, and we also got to share Darren's favourite thing: the Bloomin' Onion! Not sure if it's actually 10,000 calories like they claim, but it has to be up there.

There will be a lot of food photos in this report! Food is obviously one of the best parts of any trip.

That concludes day one!

 

[LiveForTheLaunch]

Re: 22 Days of Coasters- Day 1- Quassy & Lake Compounce

Day 2- Six Flags New England
We got up bright and early and very excited for the day ahead, considering some of the most anticipated coasters were at Six Flags New England. We had a quick breakfast at the hotel consisting of waffles, cereal, yogurt, and some weird instant omelets.

After pigging out, we went outside to find our car had a pretty amusing license plate.

There would definitely be no gym on this trip!

When we got to the park, we parked the car and took the fun bus to the front of the park, which is ridiculous considering the walk isn't even that long.

We had to wait a little bit inside the park for them to drop the ropes, and while we were waiting, I seen a Jerry lookalike!

It was a group decision to not go straight to Wicked Cyclone, in order to give it a chance to warm up. We figured most people would be heading there first anyway, so we rode Thunderbolt, which was an okay wooden coaster but nothing worth writing home about. Most of us had all the creds in the park, but we had to do everything since Tom had never been there. Second on the agenda was Goliath, which I was really looking forward to since I enjoyed it a lot back in 2012. I heard the new trains ruined it, but I refused to believe that they could wreck the ride experience that much. Sadly, everyone was right. The new trains rattled horribly, and completely altered the ride from what it was before.

Right behind Goliath is a regular old Boomerang, which obviously we all sat out on apart from Tom.

Even though the original plan was to wait until last to ride Wicked Cyclone, we were all getting a bit antsy so we decided to do it while we were over there.

I didn't get many pictures of it, but the ride was great. We waited about half an hour for the front, and though I wasn't blown away the first time, it broke my top ten automatically. It's such a good combination of speed, airtime, inversions, and turns. After riding the other RMCs later in the trip, it seemed like Wicked Cyclone took the best of all of them and combined them into one delicious ride!

While Tom was riding Pandemonium, we went to get drink refills and then ride the rapids.

I didn't get too wet on the rapids, but they're good ones and my shoes got soaked! Tom also rode the kiddie, which we obviously sat out on.

We headed to the other section of the park, and though I'm not sure exactly what we did next, I think it was Bizarro. This was already in my top ten from before, but it still exceeded my expectations and sits comfortably in the upper portion of my overall coaster list! It has speed, airtime, loads of twists and turns, and a lengthy layout. We also didn't wait long for it at all, with the lengthiest queue being about 15 minutes for the front.

Batman was next on the agenda, and for some reason it had a line. We waited for the back and it took about 15 minutes, which for that coaster is a long time. It wasn't as boring as I remembered it being, but still just average in terms of B&M coasters. It's “inoffensive” as Darren would say!

Unfortunately for Tom, he went to ride Mind Eraser while we all sat out and laughed at the fact we didn't have to ride a disgusting SLC.

Catwoman's Whip was closed when we walked by it, but there was another family ride in the area: Gotham City Gauntlet. I think we actually all enjoyed this for what it was. Thankfully for Tom, Catwoman's Whip was back open, so he rode that.

Obviously we had to do Bizarro again because it's amazing and the line was so short! We did it in the back this time, which is where I think I prefer to ride it.

The last thing of the day was a reride on Wicked Cyclone, this time in the back. Most of us, if not all of us, thought that's where it gave the better ride. It blew me away! It jumped far up into my number two spot, becoming number one later in the trip for reasons you'll later find out. Darren went to buy some tacky tat as usual, and we were on our way back to the car via the fun bus. Stupidly, we kept missing our stop and the lady had to personally chauffeur us back to the area of the car park we were actually parked in. A stupid moment, but we had a laugh over it.

I think overall, Six Flags New England gets more stick than it deserves. It's soulless in the same way that every Six Flags park is, but it has a good lineup of rides, is relatively clean, and gets decent clientele. It's one of the only Six Flags parks I actually would revisit right away if given the chance.

After the park, we drove to Syracuse to the hotel, but not before stopping at Five Guys!

I got a Vanilla Coke which is elusive in Canada, and it was pure bliss.

That concludes day 2!

 

[LiveForTheLaunch]

Re: 22 Days of Coasters- Day 2- Six Flags New England

Day 3

The weather was looking pretty grim on the morning of the third day, but we were headed to Canada's Wonderland so we didn't let it get us down. In true Canadian fashion, even though we weren't quite in Canada yet, we started the day off with a Timmies breakfast and drinks. The Timmies was conveniently located right in the parking lot of our hotel.

Ben really enjoyed the iced cappucino, because he got two large ones within the span of about two hours.

It was still raining when we arrived at Wonderland, but the parking lot was extremely empty and Leviathan was still running, so that could only mean good things! Tom decided to be a poncho ****.

Tom and Ben still had yet to ride Leviathan, so we went straight there only to find an empty station. We requested the first row, and thankfully they weren't being jerks and allowed us to have it. I didn't take too many pictures at Wonderland because I've been there so much and I don't really care too much about it. Another good thing about the day is that we all had the majority of the creds, so we just got to whore the two B&M coasters and ride whatever else we wanted, which ended up being Vortex and Wonder Mountain's Guardian. For good measure, here is a picture of Tom in front of Leviathan.

The group enjoyed the coaster, as did I. I still think it's a little bit on the short side, but either way, a quality ride regardless.

I believe we went to Wonder Mountain's Guardian next. Me and Darren tried to trick Ben and Tom about what happens at the end of the ride, but silly Wonderland placed the drop track in a spot where you can see it from the queue. We all had a good time on it though, and I think Ben won as far as scores go.

After a fabulous few rides on Behemoth, which is still my favourite B&M hyper to date, and a cheeky ride on Vortex, we were working up a hunger so we went to the buffet, which was really good and had lots of shrimp for good measure.

Someone tried just about every ice cream the buffet had to offer...

Ben dropped a toonie on Behemoth, and it stayed in the car the entire time, just floating up and down with the airtime and eventually falling into a crack throughout the helix. We thought it was pretty fab.

We were all extremely happy we didn't have to ride Death Trap... I mean, Flight Deck again.

Darren started feeling sick at this point, so he went back to the car while myself, Ben, and Tom went to reride Behemoth and Leviathan, as well as get some selfies in front of the entrance plaza.

We headed back out to the car only to find Darren fast asleep.

It was my choice of dinner that night, and since one of the only Nando's in the country is just a few minutes from Wonderland, I obviously chose that! Darren had hilarious bantz with the lady at the front counter, and I had a delicious chicken pita, so overall it was a successful dinner.

Darren wanted to get a Philadelphia Flyers jersey and there was a hockey store right across the street, so we went in there for what we thought would be a minute but ended up being probably an hour and a half while he got his jersey personalized. We made the most of it and acted like true Canadians (well, they acted.. I felt at home haha).

The final product!

[url=https://scontent-ord1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xta1/v/t1.0-9/r90/11202096_10155708400285343_6134674935521504853_n]https://scontent-ord1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hp ... 21504853_n[/url].

About an hour later we arrived at our hotel in Niagara Falls, which was basically next to Camp Crystal Lake from the Jason movies, and inhabited by the Mexican drug lords. Overall, a successful choice of accomodations.

[img]https://scontent-ord1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xaf1/v/t1.0-9/11406822_10155708400440343_6078431295412321204_n.jpg?oh=4835cb33078e2b2b71cf350cbf64a200&oe=55E646B9

I definitely enjoyed day three because it wasn't a day of just running around the park cred whoring. I do love Wonderland, and it still remains one of my favourite Cedar Fair parks, but I love it even more when I can just ride the B&M coasters and **** off to Nandos!

Next up, day 4!

 

[Mysterious Sue]

Re: 22 Days of Coasters- Day 3- Wonderland Eh?

Haha that goon list! Looks like you guys had a fab time. Can't wait to read the next installment. Nice to know a good ride is possible on Boulder Dash ;p

 

[Ben]

Re: 22 Days of Coasters- Day 3- Wonderland Eh?

As soon as I get round to it I'll post a spreadsheet with all the scores on haha.

So goony <3

Boulder Dash was still incredible, Leviathan was fab, Wicked Cyclone was fab <3

 

[Ian]

Re: 22 Days of Coasters- Day 3- Wonderland Eh?

Taylor, you're so fab. Like, really fab.

 

[LiveForTheLaunch]

Re: 22 Days of Coasters- Day 3- Wonderland Eh?

^ Thanks Ian, you're fab as well!

Once again, the weather was looking really crummy for our day of culch, but we got our umbrellas out and braved the rain, because we had sightseeing to do. Before any of that though, Darren had a whale to see, so he went into Marineland while the rest of us waited in the car. We thought he would get the creds as well, but no, he just visited Kiska and left.

After Marineland (I still don't have the Dragon Mountain cred, but I wasn't paying to go in especially when it was raining and the coaster may not have even been running), we found a parking spot near Clifton Hill and headed down to buy our tickets.

The bad weather meant there was literally no wait for the boat, which I've never seen in all my trips to Niagara Falls. Darren actually got out of the car to do sightseeing this time, unlike last year!

As the boat got closer to the falls, we got pelted with mist and water. Everyone was laughing and it made for a pretty funny time. Silly Ben kept trying to pull out his camera to take selfies, even though I warned him that two of my mom's cameras have met untimely ends on the Maid of the Mist. Thankfully, all of our electronics survived!

When we got off, the rain started to let up a bit and we took some selfies in the generic selfie spot.

We called it quits on Niagara Falls since none of us were that interested in doing any of the tourist traps along Clifton Hill. After all, we had a vape shop and a Ravine Flyer waiting for us. After an hour and a bit of driving, we arrived in Erie, and stopped at 3-2-1 Vape for a little bit, while Tom nearly succumbed to cred anxiety.

Soon enough, we were at Waldameer where I seen this cute little antenna fellow in the parking lot.

Instead of getting a wristband, we each bought a few rides each for RFII which ended up being a good thing considering it really wasn't as great as I remembered it being. I don't know if it was running poorly, if it has aged poorly, or if I just remembered it being a lot better in my head. The airtime hills over the bridge still provide fantastic airtime, but other than that it's severely lacking and by the end of the day it had dropped many places and far out of my top ten.

The best thing about RFII was the fact that there were some old peach enthusiasts riding it <3

Once we had had enough of Ravine Flyer II, we made our way to Smokey Bones for dinner, where we had a fab waiter, Coronaritas, and some delicious food.

After a huge appetizer and some southwest mac and cheese, I was super full.

It was another few hours to Sandusky, and once we got there we went to bed since we had a long day at Cedar Point ahead. I think I was just as excited as Ben, since I love being there when enthusiasts have their first visit to America's Roller Coast!

Up next- Cedar Point

 

[Ben]

Re: 22 Days of Coasters- Day 4- Niagara and Waldameer

Ravine Flyer II was definitely the biggest disappointment of the trip for me - at least I've still got the memories of when it didn't suck.

I still can't believe bae turned down Dragon Mountain, he's changed <//3

The Cedar Point day was interesting haha, excited to read <3

I'll put Ready To Go on when I read it <3

 

[LiveForTheLaunch]

Re: 22 Days of Coasters- Day 4- Niagara and Waldameer

^ Cedar Point was definitely an interesting day, I'll be writing the report in the next hour or so. Ready to Go will bring back cred anxiety for you haha.

I have memories of when it was good as well, but I do wonder if it actually got worse or if I just like it less because I've been on more.

 

[LiveForTheLaunch]

Re: 22 Days of Coasters- Day 4- Niagara and Waldameer

Day 5

The much anticipated Cedar Point day was upon us! I can't say I was super stoked because it is my home park, but Ben had never been there so I was excited to experience it with him as well as the other Brits who get to go there infrequently.

We woke up with plenty of time to have breakfast and make it to the park for opening. It was the most sad hotel breakfast I'd ever seen, with a vast selection of muffins, muffins, and muffins, as well as gross coffee.

We made it there with perfect timing because they were just opening the park to pass holders. Millennium Force was down for the entirety of the morning, so we headed to Maverick first.

I obviously had to get a photo of the infamous Jarrett2012 test seat.

Horrible photo of me, but yeah. We waited about five minutes for the front and soon enough we were cresting the lift hill.

Maverick is still such a solid ride and we all enjoyed it. It just offers so many things that make a coaster good, from a fab first drop (albeit short, but still full of airtime), airtime hills, and inversions, to a launch and some crazy tight transitions and turns. Also, I'll throw in an apology that my reports don't include many coaster photos. I like to concentrate on the people aspect of coaster trips rather than just cred photos you can get off RCDB on any given day.

Millennium Force was meant to be next, but with it being shut we headed to Dragster, which wasn't open yet. We were all excited, especially Ben who had never been on it before.

As 10am approached, we seen an employee walking towards the entrance of the ride! We figured it was about to open, but NO, it was “closed due to high winds.” And so began the next four hours of spite. It was barely even windy outside, and there certainly were no winds at ground level, but they claimed 36+ mph at the top of the tower. We chatted to some employees and watched it test time and time again, until the clouds came and we got absolutely pissed on. I hid under the locker shelter and got a Rougabrew in the meantime. Beer at 10am= classy bitch. Tom also hid under the shelter like a fanny, because he didn't have his poncho handy! I was irritated because I wanted to keep the bottle, but they wouldn't let me.

Ben was getting really angry and having bad cred anxiety, until finally, the rain let up and they opened the queue! As soon as we got to the station, we heard the words “it's closed again.” So it literally opened up for two seconds, which wasn't even enough time to get one rider on. Still, we were feeling hopeful and sat in the station for a few more hours. We didn't want to leave without complaining to the supervisor, because they had told us it was going to open and then it never did, so we obviously wanted compensation (in the form of fast passes). The supervisor was a useless twit, and directed us to Town Hall. After four hours passed, we cut our losses and headed straight there to complain. Ben was not in the highest of spirits... Five hours after opening and he only had one cred.

We obviously stopped for a cigarette after all the stress.

At the Town Hall, the fabulous man was super nice to us and gave us a bunch of exit passes, which made our spirits a little higher. He also have Ben permission to ride Wilderness Run. The plan of action for the rest of the day was to work our way from the back of the park to the front, and then loop around the Frontier area back to where we started. So we rode Cedar Creek Mine Ride first, in all of its averageness, and then headed to Mean Streak, which was running surprisingly smooth.

After a ride on one side of Gemini, Darren and myself decided to sit out of the other side, which gave us time to take a selfie.

After Gemini, we headed to the kiddie area so Ben could scoop up the creds while Tom and Darren smoked and I took some photos.

https://scontent-ord1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hp ... e=5627293D [/img]

Magnum was next up, and though I enjoy the ride, they've decided to implement a locker policy on it so I just sat it out while they all rode. I wasn't too bummed out though because I got the most amazing pretzel I have ever had the pleasure of eating. It was full of cream cheese <3 I guess the Brits weren't too blown away by Magnum, but I still have a soft spot for it.

Tom and Ben rode Corkscrew, and then I sort of forget the order we did things in. I believe we headed to Blue Streak next, which I also sat out of even though I like it. It's a fab woodie that's often overlooked, but I don't cry if I miss it. Ben quickly ran to Wicked Twister where he used an exit pass to get on right away.

We were working up a hunger at this point, and as tradition goes, we went to Famous Dave's restaurant right on the marina, just outside the park. They have some delicious barbecued food and a fab selection of sauces, such as rich and sassy (just like Ben):

I had the pulled pork sandwich with a side of mac and cheese.

After dinner, Raptor and Gatekeeper were still closed due to high winds and “the angle of the winds.” I can somewhat understand Gatekeeper and Dragster, but not Raptor. Either way, a few of us did Iron Dragon (not me, because it's boring) which apparently was still as uninspiring as ever.

Next was Rougarou, which I was actually a little bit excited for, but certainly wasn't a new cred. It was such an odd sensation to be sitting on a coaster that you've gone on for years as a stand up, and I have to say, I enjoyed the experience a lot more as Rougarou, but it still didn't blow me away. I love the colours they painted it though, and the bright trains look great whizzing along the track. We did get stuck on the brake run for a little while, and we were secretly hoping to get evacuated so we could see first hand how they evacuate a floorless coaster, but it didn't happen. After about 10 minutes of being stuck, we were on our way to use our exit passes on Millennium Force.

About the sixth train we got stuck at all day...

I was so grateful for the exit passes because Millennium Force had about a 1 hour 30 minute queue going on. But, we frolicked along the exit ramps and got straight into the front car. I sat in the second row with Darren so that Tom and Ben could have the front. We also got the exclusive piece of track between the exit station and the entrance station, as well as many nasty looks from people waiting for the front row. Sorry, not sorry. As usual, Millennium Force offers a great sensation of speed, with a few pops of airtime mixed it. The first drop use to really blow me away, but unfortunately with Leviathan and Fury325 in the picture these days, it's starting to fall short. Either way, an enjoyable ride that I usually try to ride every time I go to the park. The Brits really liked it though, so I guess that's good.

With all the creds out of the way (well, at least the ones we could possibly get that day), we really wanted to hit up the water rides so we did Shoot the Rapids first. It's a fun ride, and better than I remembered it, but when I think back to the concept art it could have been a little more immersive.

Myself and my weave got soaked, so I pulled it out and we went to the rapids. Tom somehow managed to not get wet on Shoot the Rapids and this would continue to be a trend over the next little while.

Thunder Canyon was a blast. I hadn't been on it in a very long time, if ever at all, and I was anticipating it would be like the one at Wonderland where you just get a slight mist. No. It was waterfall after waterfall after spiteful waterfall. We all got soaked to the bone... Except for Tom, who remained dry.

After a final ride on Maverick and some tat shopping, we called it a day and headed back to the car.

As we were driving down the road next to the area where Blue Streak is, Ben shouted out that he seen Gatekeeper, Raptor, and Dragster running. Keep in mind, it was 9PM by this point. We were all baffled as to why they'd open them so late, but we had no time to think and as Darren went to park the car and chill, the rest of us leapt out and made the maddest dash to Gatekeeper, which already had about a half an hour line. This was the biggest cred emergency ever, because if we couldn't get them done, we would have to come back the next morning to make sure Ben got what spited him. We opted to ride the back row, and I let Ben have the outside. As soon as we were done, we ran as fast as we could to Dragster. Sadly, lightning had struck the area and our cred emergency was over. We'd have to come back the next morning and make it to Kings Island a bit later than planned.

With the day starting out so poorly, it actually turned out to be a pretty good one after we got our exit passes and were able to get the rest of the creds fairly quickly. The water rides were also hilarious, and I still have no idea how Tom managed to stay so dry.

Stay tuned for Kings Island.

 

[LiveForTheLaunch]

Re: 22 Days of Coasters- Day 5- Cedar Point Cred Emergency

Even though it doesn't change anything and nobody cares, we did all the creds and then had dinner, my bad.

Happy, Ben? :lol:

 

[Pink Cadillac]

Re: 22 Days of Coasters- Day 5- Cedar Point Cred Emergency

This report has been really great so far. Cedar point seems like such a ball ache with their frequent ride closures. I'd be so restless if any of the headliners were down.

 

[LiveForTheLaunch]

Re: 22 Days of Coasters- Day 5- Cedar Point Cred Emergency

^ Yeah! Thankfully I had all the creds, but if I hadn't I'd ha e acted just like Ben. The good thing was that we were in Sandusky overnight so if anything was missed we knew we could just go back the next day and do it during ERT or just after.

 

[Ben]

Re: 22 Days of Coasters- Day 5- Cedar Point Cred Emergency

Oh God, I hated the first like, nine hours at Cedar Point. I've never been so stressed out by a park.

I liked it more after but I can't forgive the operations on that first day.

The Intamins and Gatekeeper are all fab though, but the rest is meh.

 

[nadroJ]

Re: 22 Days of Coasters- Day 5- Cedar Point Cred Emergency

Oh my god the cred anxiety must have been unbearable, I think I'd have cried <//3

 

[LiveForTheLaunch]

Re: 22 Days of Coasters- Day 5- Cedar Point Cred Emergency

Day 6

After religiously checking the weather and wind forecasts, it was looking like a bright, sunny, and calm day which meant Dragster was likely to be open. We got a Taco Bell breakfast before heading to the park, which was actually not very good at all. Taco Bell needs to stick to what it's good at.

When we got to Cedar Point, Darren dropped us off and headed to some shops. Tom realized he lost his season pass, so he went to sort that out while I went to hold a place in the Dragster line so that we could be on and off as soon as it opened. Ben forgot his pass in the car so he had to sneak through the security ropes in order to get in the park for ERT and snag Raptor before the park opened to the public. By 10am we were all reunited at Dragster and even though they opened the line for the Fast Lane people before the line we were in, those people had no sense of urgency and just traipsed through the queue as slow as ever, meaning we got to the station first and had only a few train wait for the front.

We boarded, launched, and a whole eighteen seconds later, we were done. Still as incredible as ever, and even though it's not in my top ten anymore, I still love the experience as much as I ever have! Hilariously, as we left the park, Dragster had stopped running, perhaps once again for “gusts” at the top of the tower.

So, a very happy Ben got all the creds at Cedar Point. After Darren picked us up, we went to a vape shop for a fairly long amount of time, which caused even greater cred anxiety for Ben because we were already due to arrive later than planned at Kings Island and still had nearly a three hour drive ahead of us. Poor guy probably added twenty points to his blood pressure count while we were in Ohio. We arrived at Kings Island at nearly 3PM and met up with Jarrett2012. The parking lot looked busy, but he said most things were a walk on.

Our first stop of the day was Invertigo, which for some reason both myself and Jarrett rode with Ben even though we had the cred already. It still sucked. We then went to Bat, which is a clone of Vortex at Wonderland but for some reason I don't find it quite as good.

Banshee was in the same general area so we went to knock that off next. Stupidly, they make you get a locker, so we put our stuff in it and walked right into the station. I think we rode in the very back, and I have to say, I was awfully disappointed with my ride on it. I had been looking forward to this so much since it opened, and it really looked promising, but it didn't deliver. It has a fantastic layout, but rattled really badly and was lacking force. Not even close to one of my favourite inverts!

I want to say Racer was next, and by this point I wasn't feeling great so I sat off the ride and got something to drink instead.

Ben's 700th coaster was next, and he wanted it to be Backlot Stunt Coaster, but when we got there it was closed, so he chose Firehawk instead. I still actually enjoy Firehawk despite popular opinion that they're bad rides, and I think it's probably the best of the three; however, Kings Island needs to paint the **** out of that thing. The lime green from when it was Xflight is coming through in many places on the track, and it just looks dirty!

We did Flight of Fear next, which was fabulous because it had air conditioning in the line and it was very hot out. I actually really like these rides as well, even though Darren would completely disagree with me! It was the longest line of the day, more than likely because it was the only spot to cool off in the park apart from the water rides and in the shops.

After Vortex, which only Tom and Ben rode because we're not all suckers for punishment, we stopped for a drink and seen a lady with one of the most hideous hair styles I have ever seen.

Somehow we managed to lose Tom, but in true enthusiast fashion we pushed forward without him and rode Backlot Stunt Coaster. It's nice to see that their effects are still working, unlike Wonderland's which have just been collecting dust for years now. I still believe these are really good family rides, and I always make it a point to ride them when I'm at a park with one.

Diamondback, or as it's otherwise known, Diamondstack, was next. It's easily the weakest of the B&M hypers apart from Raging Bull, which is a shame because it actually use to rank highly on many enthusiast's lists; however, with a very strong MCBR and a nasty rattle, it has fallen to the bottom for many.

When we got off, Ben went to grab the kiddie creds while we waited in the smoking area for Darren and Tom to tend to their nasty habits! Once he had his +2, we did the log ride and the rapids. The log ride was lacking as far as ride experience is concerned, but it was themed to the Peanuts Gang and therefore gained brownie points from me.

I barely got wet, but the rapids were next so I knew that I had to take my weave out and put my hair up, because being dry wasn't going to last for long (queue the dirty jokes). Jarrett wouldn't ride with us, which was sad, but he acted as the bag lady so that was fine by me! We all got a reasonable soaking, but not quite as bad of a drenching at the Cedar Point rapids!

All that was left to do was Beast, but we were saving that until night. In order to kill time and kill our hunger, we got snacks and beer and then rode Diamondback again, where many inappropriate jokes ensued in the queue. The group also had a good laugh over my on ride photo, because I looked just about as dead as one could look without actually being dead. We got in line for Beast as soon as we were done, and we couldn't have timed it any better because just as we were a few trains away from riding, the fireworks started, meaning the ride had to shut for about 15 minutes. This was a good thing because it meant extra time for the sky to get darker. Finally, we got on and began our five minute journey through the dark woods. Although no ride on Beast will ever compare to the one I got when it was completely foggy and dark out, it was still a great experience.

We left the park after that and went to Waffle House. I rode in the car with Jarrett just so I could see how bad of a driver he really is! It wasn't too bad, but it was only a few blocks so I can't really judge to the fullest extent.

I had a large order of hash browns with jalapeno, tomato, and mushroom on it, which was delicious. The only other way to describe this trip to Waffle House is “Maam, Maam, can I get a Pibb? Can I get a Cherry Pibb? Can I get a Pibb Vanilla?”

The ride to the hotel was a short one, and before we knew it we were off to bed and ready for the next day at Kentucky Kingdom!

 

[davidm]

Re: 22 Days of Coasters- Day 6- CP and Pibb's Island

Darren is seeming to spend more time in shops than amusement parks in this report? Calls himself a goon, pah!

Keep it it up Tay!

 

[LiveForTheLaunch]

Re: 22 Days of Coasters- Day 6- CP and Pibb's Island

Day 7- Kentucky Kingdom and Beech Bend

The day was started with an act of revenge. Because Tom didn't get wet on any water ride we rode thus far in the trip, we decided we'd make it happen ourselves and woke him up with a bucket of water to the face. We were nice and made it lukewarm instead of cold, but we also took a video which Ben better post! After getting ready, we made our way to White Castle, which I had never tried before. We were just going for breakfast though, so I am still a White Castle slider virgin. Still, the waffles and sausage concoction I did have was delicious.

When we got to the park, we met up with Tom's friend Mark, who was a really nice guy. He was with us for the entirety of Kentucky Kingdom, Beech Bend, and Holiday World. Also, we soon realized we were going to encounter our first cred spite of the trip in the form of a Vekoma SLC. T3 still wasn't open, and too be honest, we weren't too bummed about it.

Our first coaster of the day was Lightning Run, which I was quite excited to ride. Unfortunately, it was only running one train and the operations weren't super solid, so we waited close to half an hour. Me and Ben opted for the back and we both enjoyed the ride, but found the airtime painful. I was very surprised that Darren liked it, because he doesn't like aggressive airtime and I think this actually has some of the most aggressive airtime I've ever experienced. The lap bar actually dug into my leg and left a pinch mark for the better part of the day. Still, a very good coaster and I wish more smaller parks would invest in something like this.

The park has a really weird layout, with a little bit of it being on one side of a road and the rest being on the other side. So, we crossed the bridge and made our way to the other creds after getting somewhat lost. I found it strange that the water park is in such a prominent location with the creds kind of being on the outer edge of the park, but the water park is their main selling point right now so it's kind of appropriate, I guess.

Obviously the rest of the creds were rather uninspiring. Thunder Run actually wasn't too bad, but sort of forgettable, and the Roller Skater was just a Roller Skater. So, we went to get changed into our swim suits and hit up the rapids, which didn't score too highly in our rapid ranking system! We also went to the water park. I don't have any photos of this because I wasn't taking any chances with my camera, but we first went to the Adventure River, where I was dunked under a waterfall by my pals. Then we went on a horrible body slide, which I absolutely hated because I got so much water up my nose. The other water slides had too long of a wait so we opted to go in the lazy river, where we actually spent well over an hour getting much needed relaxation. It still remains top dawg in our lazy river rankings!

To end off the day, we got a reride on Lightning Run, but in the front this time.

We got back to the lovely air conditioned car and made our way to Beech Bend, which wasn't terribly far away.

Tom wanted some Scat in his life.

I rode the Wild Mouse with those that needed the cred, and it was a pretty uninspiring Wild Mouse considering it didn't even spin, which was probably a good thing.

Myself and Ben wanted to ride the fabulous but awful haunted house with the peachy ride operator, so we went there next.

Ben and Darren needed the kiddie cred, and they only asked for one lap on it which was annoying because I had to go through eight laps when I got the cred!

We hit up Kentucky Rumbler next, which I remembered having a heck of a lot more airtime than it did. I don't know if it was because we had an empty train or what, but my butt barely left the seat. We rode it a few times and then had enough of it. It's a fun ride, and it has had its day, but they should just make a RMC instead.

Mark and Tom wanted to do an awful spinning ride, which I sat out of because I hate spinny rides.

Ben and Darren went on the water ride while the rest of us sat out.

The last thing we did at Beech Bend was the Sea Dragon, which use to belong to Michael Jackson and reside in Neverland. That's literally the only reason I rode it, because the ride itself made me feel sick.

Buffalo Wild Wings was calling our name, so we went there for dinner. I had deep fried pickles, nachos with salsa, and a mango habanero chicken wrap.

 

[LiveForTheLaunch]

Re: 22 Days of Coasters- Day 7- Kentucky Kingdom/Beech Bend

Day 8

The day had finally arrived! I was to be reunited with my number one coaster as well as a park that I was so fond of. It wasn't a super long drive to the park, and we got there shortly after opening only to notice the absolute hoards of people in the parking lot. We also drove in a separate car to Mark and Tom, and forgot to work out a meeting spot, so we ended up waiting like, thirty minutes for them only to never find them. So, after waiting and watching a kid get medical attention after having a seizure, we walked into the park without them and went straight to Raven.

Something must have been on my camera because there's a splotch in a few pictures.

The line for the Raven looked pretty long, but the cattlepens weren't open so we only ended up waiting about twenty minutes. It's quite a good little coaster, and a lot better than I remembered it being, but it's definitely on the short side. Good thing there were men in speedos to keep us entertained while we waited! Well, it kept me and Ben entertained at least.

Our next stop was Legend, a coaster with way too many laterals and not enough airtime, but it's still sort of fun in its own way. The wait was also about twenty minutes, which wasn't too bad considering the parking lot made it look like everything would have a queue of over an hour.

We definitely made use of the free drinks. Unlimited pink lemonade really is the dream!

I'm obviously a legend.

The time was upon us for VOYAGE. I was having a bit of anxiety thinking that Jarrett may have been right about the trims being stronger this year, or that it would slip out of my top spot. Sadly the wait was about forty five minutes, and we opted to do a back row ride.

Sadly, my fears came true. The trim really did destroy what use to be one of the most epic sections of any coaster ever. That thing use to fly down the triple down and through the second half of the layout, but now it comes to a complete standstill on the brake run. It does retain a bit of speed, but nothing like before. It's still an excellent coaster that remains in my top ten, but I did take it out of the top spot, which was quite sad because it held my number one spot for six years.

The only cred of the day for me was next: Thunderbird. I can't say I had ever been excited for this, only because I'm not a huge fan of winged coasters apart from the first drop, and this didn't even have a first drop. Throughout the trip through, I came around to them and started liking them a bit more. We were also reunited with Tom and Mark by this time, with them having met us right after we got off the Voyage.

After a quick smoke, we got into the queue which was essentially nil, and boarded the front left of the train. I rode this with Darren and let him have the outside seat.

It was a pretty good ride. The launch isn't too crazy but it's still enjoyable, and the rest of the elements aren't too intense but they flow really well. Overall, a good ride but not my favourite winged coaster. That title probably goes to Raptor still!

We did Gobbler's Getaway next, which if I'm not mistaken, I won. It's a cute little shooter and I love the granny in the queue. After that, we went to the kiddie area so Ben and Darren could get the cred. Nothing spectacular, but we made our way to the rapids hoping they'd be fab. Sadly, we didn't even get wet and there was just nothing to them. Kind of disappointing for a park like Holiday World.

We all wanted to check out the water park, so we got a locker and got changed. Darren obviously wanted some lazy river in his life, so he went over there while Mark and Tom did their own thing. Ben and I wanted to do some slides, so we walked to the random ones that are far outside the water park hoping they wouldn't have as horrible of a queue as the ones in the main section of the water park did. We were right in thinking it'd be more dead over there, so we knocked off two slides pretty fast, but they were unremarkable. Those would be the only two slides we did that day, with everything having an hour long line. We later found out there was a single rider queue for Mammoth and Wildebeest, which was slightly disappointing because we really wanted to ride them, but by that time we were already back in our normal clothes and dried off. It's not like I won't be back there, I just won't go on a Saturday next time. Darren didn't enjoy the lazy river either, which is fair enough because it looked like a can of sardines.

While everyone was still in the water park, Ben and myself went to reride Voyage which was almost a walk on.

We also rode Thunderbird, which still had no queue. At least by this point we knew where all the people were that came in the park earlier!

After our rerides, we met up with the other folks back in the water park. Tom and Mark wanted to reride more slides, so we told them to meet us at the Voyage exit, because we planned on doing a front row ride. The queue had gone up to a whopping ten or fifteen minutes, and I opted for the second row to allow Ben and Darren to get a front row ride. It was a lot better in the front, even though I use to think it gave a better ride in the back. We all got on sale Voyage shirts when we got off, and then sashayed away to Chilis for dinner.

It was pretty good, but I should've opted for the enchiladas instead!

That's the end of day 8!

 

[Darren B]

Re: 22 Days of Coasters- Day 8- A Voyage Out of My Top Spot

How have you managed to **** up all the photos, Tay. Muppet