Dainan's Trek to Ohio!

[CycloneMan]

Here's the little teaser

1 and 2

More updates and videos to come later.

-Dainan "Stay tuned" Rafferty

[CycloneMan]

The Plan:
My friends Walter and Jackie have been planning a trip out to Cedar Point for there three year anniversary for a year now! Part of the plan was for my brother and I to tag along, because no trip can be complete with out the Rafferty twins (they say), but for months I've been saying I can't go. Well, the morning (3am) before the trip, I was going over my account and such and I realized, I can fully afford this trip! So I called Walter and told him I was in. I drove out to Jackie's house and we went over the trip and did a run to Great Adventure...because we were bored.

The original plan was to drive out to Cedar Point but doing a stop of Kennywood the day before. Do two days at Cedar Point, then go to King's Island, and seeng if we need a second day there or not. If we didn't need one, we were going to go to Kentucky Kingdom! Then go back to Cedar Point for July 4th and then go home stopping at some park on the way.

Day: 1
June 29th, 2008
Park: Kennywood

Trip Report
We left Manalapan, NJ at around 7am and headed out west. Some where between there and Hershey, I got hold of the wheel and drove all he way to Kennywood. I don't remember what time it was when we got there, all I know is that it was the most driving I've ever done in my life . So first things first, we go in and use our tickets we bought online to get in. I will be honest, this was like being at Disneyland for me (in some way). I've always wanted to go to Kennywood (as well as Cedar Point and King's Island), so I was very hyper and jumpy. Of course I wanted to ride Steel Phantom first...but I couldn't, so I stuck with Phantom's Revenge.

I will admit, everytime I went on Phantom's Revenge, I got all excited and couldn't contain myself. So of course, when we got in the station, we queued up for the back, where we ran into our friends Kevin and Emily who we haven't seen since Six Flags America in early May. So, we finally get on the ride and we are going up the lift. God I just love these Arrow noises and then we get slamed down the first drop, which completely suprised me! Then came the second hill which you take at amazing speed! The rest of the ride was filled with great speed, laterals and ejector. This has ranked as my number 3 steel coaster!

After that, we took a stop at the Potato Patch for some fries. I got mine with gravy, Jackie went plain, and Walter got cheese and bacon on his. From there we strolled on over to the Racer (because Thunderbolt shut down when we got in line). The Racer was fun. It would have been better if they dispatched the trains at the same time, the train was actually behind the other on the lift, it was an unfair race. From there we went on Jack Rabbit. This ride completely suprised us. I've heard stories, but wanted to try myself. On the double down, I got so much ejector that my feet were off the ground! (I wasn't holding on).

After that Walter and Jackie rode the Paratrooper while I filmed a bit. Then the three of us went on to be my new favorite flat ride, Kangaroo. Apperantly it's the last one left in the world, which is a true shame because more of these should be around. The ride goes around in a circle on a track, but the track lifts and ends, and the cars come off the track and float down back on the track. The airtime is pretty sweet and it's just a really fun ride!

Next up was Garfield's Nightmare, which was just there Old Mill, rethemed. The ride was a nice break from the heat but it was very lame, and I wish I got to see the original Old Mill...and not some fat cat in 3D. After that we headed over to ride Valcano, there Huss Enterprise. Fun as usual for any Enterprise. After that we took a ride on Phantom's Revenge before heading over to Exterminator, which was in the over flow queue. So we waited it. When we were inside the building the park shut down due to an approaching Tornado! About an hour later, the park reopened and we got in the ride in 10 minutes. This is a Reverchon Spinning Mouse, and it is VERY well themed. This totally blew us away, and we loved every minute of it.

The rain cleared, but not all the coasters were open yet so we went into Noah's Ark. Wow...just wow! That's all I am saying . After that we finally got over to Thunderbolt which as now running one train. We waited for the back, and it was alot of fun. Another top 10 from this park. It's mazing how big the first and last hills are in the ravine. I now understand he whole fanbase to this park. I don't feel like typing every ride in detail, but after that we did a few flats and got the kiddie credit. We also did the Turtles and I was flying all around, and the new Ghostwood Manor, whish had a cool preshow, but I don't care for shooting dark rides, so I wasn't totally impressed! Overall, Kennywood was a great park and it was my favorite of the trip, and I'd love to go back!

Photos
Because I have no camera, these are all video stills


The GPS was helpfull, but lied to us a few times on the trip!


OMFG WE ARE HERE!


And this is where I almost died of hapiness!


The park looks a bit like it should be called "Kennyhood" from the outside, but it definately is not!


From the parking lot, we could tell, we weren't getting on Pit Fall


I was sooooooooooo happy....and tired!


This reminded me of Lake Compounce


The tunnel to get into the park


WOW...this looks different than from the outside...


faint


So...these trains were a bit bizzare looking, but who cares


The second drop that dives through the Thunderbolt


The sick banked turn of doooooooooooooom (everything is more dramatic when you add more "o"s btw)


Ejector here...


here...


and here...


Hey look, Kevin and Emily!


Walter eats his Potato Patch fries unaware that he is going to be hit by a train full of riders...GASP!


Thunderbolt is all sexy and stuff!


Too bad, we'll come back to you later!


Insert high pitched squeel here


So next up was the Racer


The crew kind of sucked


Here's one train....


...and there's the other, about 10 seconds later!


This was are "OMFG" ride of the trip!


So innocent and so pure...


But the double down will kill ya! Literally...there are no lapbars


Walter and Jackie ride the Paratrooper


While I eat some yummy pop corn!


So here is the world's greatest flat ride, Kangaroo


See how it just jumps off the track!


Sigh....moving on


Yes, we did Phantom again!


The restraints are bizzare but awesome!


Walter is ready to ride!


Pittsburg Plunge doing it's thang (or Pixberg as the locals say)


Lost Kennywood looked really great! And even better at night...but by that point, my battery was dead.


Chaching!


The overflow was at least shaded by Pittsburg Plunge


And then there was the neetly themed, indoor queue.


Me, Walter an Jackie waiting out the tornado that was in the area.


I see a rat!


el oh el


Very cool loading platform, and very well themed as well! I loved it


Noah's Ark, simply amazing. You have to check it out yourself!


We finally got to ride Thunderbolt after a long day. And it was so worth it!


I just love these NAD trains!


The first drop is AMAZING!


We end with this shot of Ghostwood Manor. It ws trackless...

There would be more photos, but my battery died (because I am an idiot and accidently left my camera on in my pocket for an hour!) So, after we left the pak, Jackie and I drove, while Walter slept, to Sandusky to our fabulous Days Inn, where we crashed, looking foward to our next day.

-Dainan "That concludes day 1" Rafferty
 

[Millennium Force 44]

Kennywood looks awesome. I've heard awesome things about the coasters. Looking forward to the Cedar Point update.

[CycloneMan]

Day: 2
June 30th, 2008
Park: Cedar Point

Trip Report
I don't feel like typing a full report on Cedar Point, so I will type some things. Okay, so it was rainy all day, and all the coasters were running on low capacity. Two trains on everything that ran three, one train on the woodies...and some steels. I wasn't impressed with the park at all in the morning. In fact, I hated it about half way through the day. But then the park grew on me and I enjoyed it. I still like Kennywood better though.

Photos

Here is Jackie and I...tired...but getting ready to head out...


To buy me shoes because mine got destroyed a Kennywood


So at Wal-Mart we found Hannah Montana! We asked her for her autograph but she was all like, "yea, what eva! kthnxbai!"


This made us laugh


So...yea...like...we are going to Cedar Point or something!


You should have heard us in the car...it may go in the video...it may not


One of these towers really excited us


"INTAMIN FIRST GENERATION DROP TOWER!"


So yea...I gave up $150 for a Premium Pass...that actually did pay off


Aww...so cute....NOT!


Chedar Pint!


First order of the day, was Whicked Twister


Mind the rain drop on the lense


The launch was felt faster than it looked. But I like Vodoo at Dorney Park a bit better.


Corkscrew doing it's thang!


Kingda Ka...I mean...Top Thrill Dragster started testing a little after opening!


Our next coaster was Iron Dragon. My first Arrow suspended coaster.


They were only running one train!


From Iron Dragon, I got a nice shot of Wicked Twister


Fail


Okay, so Cedar Point is sworming with bugs and birds, and this bird kept taking Jackie's fries. So what do I do as a good friend? Film it of course!


Which should we go on next? The train, or the potentially good Intamin Giga Coaster?


For some reason we chose the Intamin!


Millennium Force flying by!


The queue did fill up later


And this is on a slow day!


It looks so good


But the truth is, Millennium Forceless sucked! And we did not even bother riding it again!


The only pop of airtime.


At least it gave a good show...sorta


Jackie, Walter and I in line!


l8r!


Nice wet stroll over to the other side of the park!


They asked for it!


Maverick


Me in line for Maverick


I liked the queue


Except the queue house was like a maze!


So, the first drop was really cool!


These turns looked very good, but were way too rough!


The airtime was great though!


As was the hangtime!


The brakes after the launch don't really make a difference


You take to this ride at too much speed that it's painfull.


It's a great ride, just too rough.


Seriously...how?


Next up was Mean Streak (which we later called Splean Creak)


By this point, we waited 45 minutes for Mean Streak. And I was just in a pissy mood and was totally hating Cedar Point!


Cedar Creek Mine Ride was fun


I don't have a great shot of Gemeni but I really liked it.


And the station as well


Call me what ever, but I kept accidentely reffering to TTD as Ka the whole time I was there out of habbit! I watched my footage and was embaressed by how many times I called it Ka. I eventually stopped though.


I like that it has lap bars


But I like the exra hill better


Walter in line for Top Thrill Dragster


The queue was almost identical to the original Kingda Ka queue...just themed differently...


And there were some neet facts posted on the wall


The launch track on TTD at least tells you when you'll launch


Okay, so visually, I like Top Thrill Dragster better than Kingda Ka. It has a great atmosphere for it at all times. It also has lap bars that makes it more comfortable and no trim brake at the top to slow it down. The only down side is that TTD doesn't have the extra hill like Ka. And I found Dragster to feel like it was missing something because of it. Either way it's a good ride, but not the best.


This is the only shot I got of Magnum from the first day at Cedar Point. I will say that it is my favorite coaster at the park!


Um, ew...


Mantis had a great verical loop


The diving loop was nice too


But the rest of the ride was just terrible. It made my legs numb and bashed my head around. The worst coaster at the Point, by far.


This was also the 1st B&M stand-up coastr for me. That being said, I like the Intamin ones better!


From one crappy ride, I get a nice shot of another one!


So here's a cool story. After the park closed, I ran to Top Thrill Dragster fro Magnum. We went there before and they said it was down! When I went back I saw a line of people waiting. Walter comes behind me and says "No..." and as he does, a supervisor comes out and says that even though the ride is down, and may not open tonight, they are going to let us in the queue! Mean while this is 10 minutes AFTER park closing! I just looked at Walter and gave him a smirk!


After about 20 minutes, the ride reopened and we got the last launch of the night!


In the process, we made friends with a Cedar Point regular named Chris.

It was a great night that started with a "meh" morning.

On that note, I am going away for a few days on Tuesday, and I'm busy tomorrow, so the next update, might not be until Friday!

-Dainan "My 150th coaster was Magnum XL-200" Rafferty

[Robert T Ackerman]

It's a shame you started out having a pretty crappy time there. I'm also glad to read that someone feels the same way about MF as I do (besides AVMatt). What a wasted effort. With that speed/height, they could have BLOWN AWAY Superman at SFNE. I guess our complaints don't really matter though because the GP loves it, as do a large portion of enthusiasts.

I'm looking forward to reading what you thought of Blue Streak and Disaster Transport...

[CycloneMan]

Rob, I must say that Blue Streak was one of my favorite coasters at Cedar Point, and I really liked Disaster Transport! Which I completely forgot to put in this TR. When we were going up the lift, the girl I was sitting next to, told her red neck father I was afraid so he SLAPPED MY BACK and told me to wake up! I was like, "Yo! What the ****?" and he said, "Yall scared!?" I was like, "Um, no! I've been on 150 something coasters, this is nothing!" Then at the end of the ride, I told Jackie that this reminded me of a Japanese coaster I once rode, so the redneck said to his daughters, "This reminds me of a fat chick I once rode!"

That became the line of the trip!

-Dainan "The third update will most likely be Friday" Rafferty

[darkridedan]

Kennyhood, huh? Did you try the Log Flume. It has a Splash Mountain up hill. What about the Auto Race and the Turnpike? I think those are the best car rides in a park outside of an FEC. What about the Wipe Out and the disko?

No cheerleading on Exterminator?

I bet it was hard to go from Kennywood to Cedar Point. It would be like going from Knoebels to Dorney or Great Adventure for the first time. Culture shock! Going on Magnum and Maverick first would have helped you like the park faster...and didn't I tell you to go on Maverick at night?! And I owe you a kick somewhere... Maverick rough. What are you, 15?

I knew you would like Blue Streak and Distaster Transport over Millenium Force. If you see MF as their mine ride, their mine ride is less fun that running and scraping your knee on the cement, you might appreciate it a little more. But you're right, BS is better than MF.

How were the spin rides and the other flats? What about the drop towers and the transportation rides?

If you liked Iron Dragon, I can't wait to find out your reaction to Big Bad Wolf!

[CycloneMan]

I loved Power Tower and the spinning rides. Chaos sucked...but Calypso and Matterhorn was good! I didn't do the flume at Kennywood and I liked Maverick...it was just too rough! And yea...I'm 15 you damn fool

And I loved there Wipe Out and Disk-O

[Robert T Ackerman]

Auto Race!!!! That ride is the lick. The next person who goes to Kennywood and doesn't ride it should be banned from the park.

[CycloneMan]

It had a long line...and then was closed after the rain. Not everything reopened at Kennywood after the rain

[AV Matt]

Maverick is a pain in the neck. Dan just fits it the right way to avoid the jabs to the neck, I guess.

Blue Streak rocks. Magnum is still my favorite non-SFNE hyper. Dainan will have an orgasm on Big Bad Wolf.

And yeah, the Auto Race is the lick! 

[darkridedan]

I missed Auto Race on my first two visits because I thought it was a kiddie ride but I found out it was niiiiiice. It closes when the tracks are wet. It used to have a hills and the cars would roll backwards in the rain. Keeping it open in the rain would be the lick.

[Bubba Z]

I found Maverick to be a little rough in the back seat, but the front rather enjoyable. As for Kennywood, the whole park is the Lick!

[Robert T Ackerman]

I missed Auto Race on my first two visits because I thought it was a kiddie ride but I found out it was niiiiiice. It closes when the tracks are wet. It used to have a hills and the cars would roll backwards in the rain. Keeping it open in the rain would be the lick.

I wonder how it's gravitational excitement was?

[AV Matt]

Yeah, it's a real shame they flattened the hills. That would have been HARD CORE!

[CycloneMan]

Day: 3
July 1st, 2008
Park: Cedar Point

Trip Report
We left for the park hoping to get there for opening, but we ran a tad late because of Walter! (this basically happened every day by the way). We got there to see the lot filled, so we decided to drive back to the Soak City Parking Lot. We went straigh to Magnum XL-200. It was a three train wait for the back. When we got off the ride, the queue was allready half way filled! We were going to hit TTD but it was down, so we cought a ride on Corkscrew. Which was fun and not so rough as everyone says it is!

After that, we took a ride on Matterhorn. After that we took the train around a few laps. And decided to ride Mean Streak. We waited a half hour for it, and finally got on. We ended up getting stuck half way up the lift! We sat there for five minutes before the attendant came up and Walter stopped him to ask what happened and he just said, "Who took out the camera?" We all kind of looked at each other confused and then a girl two rows ahead of us hit the girl next to her and said, "Oh my god! I can't believe you did that!" Then the girls behind them were all embaressed and stuff. About 5 minutes later they restarted it and we finished the ride!

Next we saw The Misadventures of Molly and Maverick. It was an interesting showm, but crowded. It was fun though. I just wish we had a seat. Next we went over to Maverick which was re-opening from a break down. We decided to give it a second opinion. We waited an hour while this guy was singing and dancing Michael Jackson songs. (I swear to god!). We sat up in he front. It was a fun ride, but still a bit rough, but definately better than the day before.

We headed over to Gemini, where we waited a full queue just to get th credit on the blue side. Then we went to Soak City to escape the park and heat. It was alot of fun. We actually did every slide before leaving. We then went over to Hotel Breakers for dinner, but decided to come back later. We then went back into the park, by Wicked Twister, and decided to ride it. While we were waiting it broke down. So we decided to wait it out. We ended up hanging out with the crew for two hours, before they told us it wouldn't re-open.

We then realizedwe only had a half hour left, so we rode Troika and MaxAir, which Walter chickened out on, because he "Had to use the bathroom!" We left the park and went to TGI Fridays at Hotel Breakers. We didn't end up leaving the Point until after midnight. This will be our last visit at Cedar Point until the 4th of July.

Photos

The skyline was alot brighter today!


Magnum was looking very sexy! And running great this morning


From the parking lot, it seemed that only one side of Gemini would be open today...


Up next, Corkscrew


It's a very sexy Arrow, might I add


The Matterhorn is an older version of a Thunderbolt


This will get us off our feet and sort of, out of the heat


The train offers some nice shots of Millennium Force


1


2


And Maverick


So there's this whole cool part of the train where you go through Saw Mills, Towns and houses...


...but something bothers me...


...why the hell are they all dead?


Seriouly!? Why!?


We decided to do Mean Steak next


There's just so much wood


This drop would be great if the damn trims weren't there...


It takes the turns kind of slow!


Walter and Jackie seem very happy on Mean Streak...


It's becaue the lift stopped! (Note: I took my camera after the ride was allready stopped for a few minutes)


The Misadventures of Molly and Maverick


Next up is Maverick...


...where this man kept singing and dancing to Michael Jackson's greatest hits!


I don't know if he has something wrong with him, or just high. Either way, he was having a ball, and making the line seem alot shorter than it was!


...I...just...don't...get...it...


Same goes for you!


Town Hall was pretty cool.


Yea....I just had to!


And I am that jerk who was wearing a Kingda Ka shirt at Cedar Point!


Gemini was later on running both sides...


...but then went back to only one!


Random shot of Magnum here...


We'll come back to you later!


Wicked Twister was an interesting experience...


Troika is always a fun ride!


Walter in line for MaxAir. This isthe face of some one who needs to use the bathroom


This was our last ride at the Point for the day!


Back at Hotel Breakers. They brought our meals and appetizers out at the same time. Only quality from TGI Fridays!

-Dainan "King's Island next!" Rafferty

[CycloneMan]

Being I'm going away for a week and wont have an update before then, I decided to post my Kennywood video. Click here to watch it.

-Dainan "Enjoy" Rafferty

[CycloneMan]

Day: 4
July 2nd, 2008
Park: Kings Island

Trip Report:
We woke up early and left Sandusky around 8am because Walter was being slow...as usual. We drove for two hours before stopping at a Bob Evans in the middle of nowhere. Apperantly, everyone is more relaxed in the Mid West and we ended up spending an hour and fifteen minutes at this Bob Evans because they actually take there time. But we were in a rush, and it was just annoying us. (Do I scream New Yorker or what?). Anyway, we continued driving, me and Jackie kept taking turns and occupied our selves with car karaoke while Walter slept...because that's all he's good for .

We finally got to the park at 2:15 because the GPS lied to us and made us miss our exit! We walked in and decided to go straight to Invertigo. I've allready been on one of these, but when we went to Six Flags America earlier this season, Two Face was closed so this was new to Walter and Jackie. But, as we got to the ride it had a misscatch and it ran into the e-brakes, shutting it down for a good 20 minutes. So we decided to go over to Drop Tower. Walter doesn't like drop towers, but we got him on it. And he was silent the whole time. Jackie and I loved it though. The view was really good and the drop felt like forever.

Next up we headed to Flight Deck, which was a great ride. Great laterals and speed, my one complaint is that the ride is over too quick and the wak to the ride is just way too long and hilly. It's like hiking! After that we went to Son Of Beast. I knew that this was a really bad coaster and to expect the worse, but I never thought it would be as bad as it was! A roller coaster should not feel like the wheels are made out of octogons! The ride bounced the whole way and there was absolutey no airtime (and we sat in the back). It was the worst coaster I've ever ridden, and I like bad coasters (Hercules and Mean Streak).

After that we headed for Invertigo to find it a walk-on. I faced Walter and Jackie as they both expected the worst, but they were pleasantly suprised with how smooth and fun it was. After that we strolled on over to Rugrat's Runaway Reptar, which was our first Vekoma Junior Inverted coaster. It was rough as hell and made us laugh. It was an interesting ride. Next as the Fairly Odd Coaster, which was fairly odd. It was my first junior woodie and it was a lot of fun. Great ride for little kids. After that we headed over to Wings, which is there buffet and spent an hour there!

Then we headed out to Flight Of Fear. This ride ended up being my favorite coaster at the park. I am a total sucker for space themed indoor coasters, and this ride was amazingly themed. The queue was incredible and the sound effects in the station were great too. Jackie and I rode front row while we made Walter sit in the second row. We love Premier Launches and this was great. The Blocks in the middle of the ride that stop the train is a bit annoying, but I love the airtime in the corkscrew at the end, so I can deal.

Next we headed over to Vortex which is an insane Arrow Multi-Looper. It was rough and fast. Jackie and I loved every second of it, Walter hates anything knocks his head around. Then we headed over to Walter's 100th coaster, The Beast. We waited about 45 minutes for it. I sat in the last row while Walter and Jackie sat ahead of me. This ride took me by suprise. I heard nothing but terrible things about this ride, but I was suprised. It was rough but not incredibly rough. The trimming was annoying but the ride was fast! I felt it was worth the wait.

Next up we rode The Crypt. This used to be Tomb Raider, but Cedar Fail lost the rights to the Paramount rides, so now the attraction is jus in a big black room. The theming in the queue was great, and the ride itself was a awesome Top Spin, those new Huss restraints trully make a difference. After that we rode [color="#000000"]Backlot Stunt Coaster[/color]. Walter and I rode front row while Jackie rode second. It was a fun ride, and I didn't know what to expect from it, and we were all pleasantly suprised! After that we headed back to The Beast and rode the last train of the night. Then we left the park with hopes of a better the next day!

Photos

We'll start this segment with Walter passed out in the back of the car!


Jackie enjoyed ourself with Car Karaoke


Walter eventually woke up and joined in =)

To see our horrible singing, click here. I don't promise to pay for your therapy!


After hours of driving, we finally got here!


No time to look...must get credits!


Our first ride was supposed to be Invertigo...


...there it goes...


...and then it flew through the station coming to an abrupt hault on the E-Brakes. Yup...it misscatched


We decided to hit up Drop Tower next!


This sign in the queue made us laugh.


This was our first Gyro Drop


Top Gun....errr....Flight Deck next


The walk to the ride was way too long!


But totally worth it!


Except it's over too quick


IT'S COMING RIGHT AT US!


Uh oh....


Can I please just put a match to this thing!


The lift hill to HELL!


Terrible Gerstlauer trains + terrible RCCA woodie = Terrible coaster!


Ah sweet! A Rugrats ride!


Nerver mind...it's just a Vekoma!


...yea...I can't think of a good caption. Okay...Fairly Odd Parents themed coaster....um...whoo?


It was actually a fun little ride.


Uh oh...we NEED to get Jackie out of this section, or we'll be here ALL DAY!


X-Base...where there's a Premier coaster and a Vekoma coaster!


I was so excited to finally get on Flight Of Fear!


That's mean!


The queue was very well themed!


We are going to have some pissed off aliens!


Me, Walter, and Jackie in line for Flight Of Fear


ooh


The launch into the darkness was awesome!


We skipped Firehawk (we decided to do it on our second day) and went over to Vortex!


This is like hardcore porn to Jackie and I.


I mean, come on...how could you not love Arrow?


For some reason, I deided to buy the On-Ride-Photo from Vortex.


Hello future B&M hyper coaster!


Walter outside his 100th coaster.


It's hard to get shots of the Beast being it's in the woods and very far out from the rest of the park!


So here's the last photo of the Beast for this update


And that concludes day 1 at King's Island.

-Dainan "500th post" Rafferty

[GADVwow]

Great trip report.

By the way, Fort Kinzel used to be Fort Cooper, named for Jane Cooper, then CEO of Paramount Parks.  Mr. Kinzel wasted no time re-naming it.  I also think the X Base may be a slight slam at a magical mountain of some sort.

[CycloneMan]

Hey guys, I'm sorry for the lack of updates, this has been som really crazy summer for me. Anyway, I will try to get the rest of the updates up soon. I'll merge the next two days of the trips together i pictures being they're parks that have been shown allready.

Day: 5
July 3rd, 2008
Park: Kings Island

Photos

Hey Arnold welcomed us at King's Island.


Our first ride of the day was the only shooting dark ride I've ever beaten Walter at!


The loading platform reminded me of the Disney, Haunted Mansion


When we saw this, we knew Jackie would make us ride this!




Walter in his Sportacopter


Then we had a walk-on, on the Beast!


After a few rides on the Beast, Jackie and I decided to ride Vortex front row.


Nothing beats an Arrow looper


Get it...beats...lmao


Don't you just love the terrible transitions?


I just love this ride


It's good to know we can go all the way  to south west Ohio to ride Sponge Bob 3D


Next up was Fire Hawk


Ew you!


We were expecting a really bad ride on this, but pleasantly suprised!


This is something you'd never see at Six Flags America, two trains in one shot!


These unlucky riders have no idea that they are about to get seriously pwnd


They got stuck on the blocks in the rain for 20 minutes!


Here they come dripping in.


Now we know what day it is.


Um...yea


The Racer was where we made all of our Brady Bunch references


It was a fun ride, but it would have been nicer with the trims off


Next up was this well themed Arrow Mine Train


Fun ride, but the ending was so bizzare!


Me and Jackie decided to do the Sling Shot, being they're having a $5 special!


It looks better than it really is


But it was still fun!


Ew you! GO AWAY!


We did get Walter on Delerium, and he loved it!


Jackie and I rode this over and over while Walter went shopping


We decided to do Fight Deck again!


As well as Flight of Fear again!


We did it a few times!


We also did Backlot Stunt Coaster again!


Our last ride at King's Island was The Beast. Where we rode with this cool ACEr named Mark.


See ya late King's Island!


Day: 6
July 4th, 2008
Park: Cedar Point

Photos

This was the first time I ever wore a hoodie on the Fourth of July.


We decided to do Top Thrill Dragster first


Funny that this is at a Cedar Fail park, this one has no trim at the top


Does this cable shred?


This shot came out realy good


We were trying to set up our own queue, being Cedar Point couldn't figure out how to ue theres.


Seriously, the line was a half hour long (including waiting for the font row), but it was stretching down to the bleachers, because they weren't using the switchbacks!


To escape the heat (yea yea, I know, I was in a hoodie, shut up), we saw the Ice Skating show. It was actually pretty good.


Raptor looks very beautiful


It was a fun ride, but way too rough for a B&M Inverted Coaster!


I also got yelled at for filming the ride from the midway by the employee at Raptor's enterance. Apperantly video taping of rides isn't allowed...


And I'll repeate, "INTAMIN 1ST GENERATION DROP TOWER!


Demon Drop was definately the highlight of the whole trip!


It wouldn't be a trip to Cedar point without getting his shot.


We willingly waited the full queue of Disastor Tansport


This time we rode with the 3D glasses. Besides the queue, the glasses suked!


Almost there


"All clear means your out of here! Enjoy your ride on the worlds tallest, fastest and longes indoor bobsled at Cedar Point!" Okay...seriously now!


I am a sucker for tower rides!


As you can see, today was a bit crowded.


So, where do you think this sign for a Zamperla would be?


Oh, only attatched to Red Barron HANGING in a gift shop!


This was one of my favorite coasters at Cedar Point...sadly for you, I'm an idiot and I didn't get any shots of Blue Streak!


You have to watch this to understand this picture.


Gemini got evacuated during the evening.


So, here are the Fourth Of July fireworks, that we missed because we spent 45 minutes trying to get on Jr Gemini...but it just wasn't going to happen.


We'll end this day at Cedar Point with the boy who couldn't make it. But once he woke up, we went over Magnum XL-200 and left the park. Which took us over two hours to get out of the parking lot because people can't drive!

-Dainan "Next up, Waldameer" Rafferty

[WadeJ]

Nice update

Few quick questions...

How was Beast running?

Is Racer worse now that both sides are forwards?  I always found the backwards side smoother.

What did you think of the Hurricane G trains on SOB?

And, well, the last part is more of a comment LOL  It's awesome that there is a park with two decent Premier rides - one of which really rocks.  Plus a Vekoma flyer to boot.  They blow away the B&M flyers IMO.  Of course, I haven't been on Tatsu so I can only compare to the Supermans but still...

[Robert T Ackerman]

Wade... I know I'm not the one in question, but the Vekoma flyers don't seem to be aging well. Borg/Nighthawk at Carowinds (the oldest flyer) SUCKS. It is actually at the bottom of my list of rides without question. Batwing wasn't all that great this year... hopefully Manta at Sea World will be a good ride. I have yet to get on Tatsu as well...

Kings Dominion also has 2 good premier rides... the same two actually They really know how to make solid coasters it seems.

[WadeJ]

That sucks to hear. I always enjoyed the layout, harnesses and intensity with batwing any day over superman.  But I haven't been on it in two years.

Didn't KI get new trains as well or did they come from GL as well?

[CycloneMan]

Day: 7
July 5th, 2008
Park: Waldameer

Before you skip the TR and go straight to the photos, you might want to read parts of the TR, to just see the true nature of this park

Trip Report:

We left the hotel early that morning and headed out to the Hard Rock Cafe in Cleveland. Oddly enough, I've lived in New York City my whole life and never ate at the one here, so this was my first time.The food was good, and the mall it was in had some pretty cool fountains. There we decided to go to Waldameer to check out the new Ravine Flyer II. We programed it into our GPS and drove off.

I don't remember how long it took, but I want to say about two hours to get to Waldameer. We pulled up and were forced to park in an overflow parking lot. Uh-oh. We then crossed the street and headed into Waldameer. At the enterance we each got a wrist band and decided to go straight to Ravine Flyer II. I'm not going to comment about the crowds at the park, all I will say is that...most of them weren't too bright. Like when this father and son in front of us in line for Ravine Flyer II saw the No Smoking sign and they both looked horrified and then the son said, "Naw Pa! They meen no smokin' on the ride!" And then they both smoked the whole way through the line. Yea...just an example of many things these two idiots were doing.

Anyway, we finally get on the ride after waiting throught the full queue. We rode in the back car (Jackie and I got the last row) and were very excited to ride our first Gravity Group woodie. The first drop was awesome. The bridge was awesome. And the turn around/second drop were great. But once the ride started going back up the hillside, it just wasn't that good. Also, the 90 degree turn thing is WAY over hyped. So, the ride wasn't as great as we were hoping, but it was still good.

Walter had to go to the bathroom, so Jackie and I went on the Spider. When we were next to ride, this man came up to me asking if his kids could ride, I said, "I'm sorry, I don't know, check the height stick" and he started yelling and ranting at me until finally his wife said, "Honey, I don't think he works here!" Um...wtf! Anyway, the ride was fun, and made some odd sounds and we laughed the whole way. Walter then met up with us and we did the Wacky Shack which was...totally screwed up in so many ways. But it was a dark ride, and I loved every minute of it. It was also where these three, 9 year old girls asked us, "Can we gyp yall in line". Yea...

Next up was Pirate's Cove. This I was extremely excited for. And we saw there was no wait, so we walked right in. Well, the beginning seemed promising, until the hallways got very narrow and we couldn't see. The attraction consisted of a few things behind glass, very dark rooms, strobes, and mirrors. And the whole thing was on a slant. There were parts where the walls were zig-zagged like a maze and it was pitch black so we kept crashing. It was pretty painfull. And it totally freaked us out. We also noticed all three emergency exits were pad-locked shut, which made us think of the Haunted Castle at Great Adventure which burned down, killing 8 teenagers. So...we didn't like it.

Next, Jackie and I did X-Scream which is an ARM Super Shot drop tower, which was about 140 feet tall. The airtime and the view were great. And it was also great that they didn't care how far our restraints were, as long as the seat belt was buckled! Next up, was Steel Dragon, a Maurer S?hne Xtended Spinning Coaster 2000. It wasn't my first Maurer S?hne, but it was a first for both Walter and Jackie. It was a fun ride, as most spinning coasters, and we all enjoyed it.

After that we did there flume, which the name escapes me...but it wasn't very memorable. We did a couple of standard flat rides and another ride on Ravine Flyer II. This time we sat up front, and it was alot better than the back. And it actually made my top ten. Next up, we tried to get on Ravine Flyer 3 but we couldn't ride, so after Jackie begged some parents for about 10 minutes, Walter and I dragged her away and we went over to the Comet, which was a really nice Jr Wooden coaster. After that, we re-rode some more rides, before driving all night to the middle of no where PA, and stayed at a cheep hooker motel (no lie).

Photos:


Here we are at Waldameer!


Ravine Flyer II looks pretty from the parking lot!


While entering the park, we found this sign...which I'm pretty sure was ment for the locals to understand...


I have to say, I was pretty excited for this!


Walter and Jackie in line


The queue is fairly small, and you actually don't get too many good shots of the ride from it.


WOWZA!


LyKe ZoMfG!1!1!!11


OMFG! Lift hill through the trees! Like what!?


We rode the Spider


Wacky Shack was certainly wacky!


Walter and Jackie seemed to enjoy it


Jackie and I on X-Scream


And this was how far they let us have the restraints!


The cool thing about the ARM drop towers, is that you don't know when you get to the top!


The airtime was absolutely insane on this ride!


Steel Dragon


This ride was fun, and we all enjoyed it


Good job Maurer S?hne!


This shot would be better if it had a log in it...


Oh well!


Yes yes, we see you Ravine Flyer II


I refused to walk directly under this because some "cool kids" kept spitting on guests!


The Comet was a nice family Junior Woodie


There it goes, down the first drop (sorta looks like a mini Phoenix)


Ravine Flyer II was much better the second and third time around!


Train zipping on by!


The view of Lake Erie from the top of the lift!


The first drop


The bridge was definately the most unique part of the ride!


The second drop was even better than the first


These short little tunnels were pretty nifty!


There we go, 90 degrees!


This ride feels like it just keeps going! Click here to watch the POV. Just a little side note, this was the first POV I ever took on a roller coaster with my new camera, so it's a bit shaky...but not too bad


This park had a Wipe-Out as well


We see you X-Scream!


Something just isn't right with this picture...


Jackie was tired and needed to leave....


What old park doesn't have one of these?


Ravine Flyer II looks pretty great amongst the setting sky.


Leaving the park we went under the Ravine Flyer II...


...then we went under it again, because we realized we were going the wrong way. Oops

-Dainan "Next up, Hersheypark (last day)" Rafferty

[PcMan]

Hmmm
I bet with the track a little wet and / or when this breaks in it will kick some butt
I haven't been on it but Gravity group coaster are the lick  (is that the correct word ?)

OK
you been to Japan but you haven't been the Wildwood,Clementon or Indiana
but I know I know the key word is
YET

nice trip report