Pride in the Park

At a meeting this evening, I got word that Six Flags America is doing Pride in the Park again.  Three years ago I attended one of these, and it was not a great experience, as my letters to Six Flags and to Metro Weekly explain.  However, this year I'm willing to try and give it another shot, because maybe, just maybe, if people would actually show up, invade the park, and show off their pride, it can be turned into a fun day, instead of an "oh hi, some people who got discounts showed up, that's nice." type of day.

Visiting Six Flags and Sea World

One advantage of being down in San Antonio is that because it doesn't snow and stays fairly decent weather-wise, amusement parks stay open way longer than they do on the east coast.  With that opportunity available, I took advantage of my visit to see my parents by going to both Sea World and Six Flags in San Antonio.

On Monday morning I drove to Sea World and the parking lot was pretty empty, probably because it's the week before Christmas and people are leaving for vacation or whatnot.  I got inside, got a map of showtimes, and first it was off to ride Shamu Express before heading to one of the theaters to watch the Polar Express in 4D.  Basicallly they take and cut the original movie down to an 18 minute interactive movie.  It was cute and all, the kids would like it, there certainly were a lot of them there.  I timed it to be able to walk right over to the sea lion stadium and watch the sea lion show.  It featured one of the stars, Clyde, trying to get into the Christmas spirit.  There's various stuff that happens throughout, including leaps out of the water by the sea lions, and an otter running around.  I enjoyed seeing their re-creation of The Night Before Christmas.

After the sea lion show, I had about 40 minutes to kill before the Shamu show, so I walked over to the Great White roller coaster and got in a few rides on that one.  It's a B and M coaster that's similar to Afterburn at Carowinds so there's lots of turns and loops.  Since there was basically no one in line, they said you could stay on it if no one was waiting in your row.  I got to ride in the front and the back before it was time for me to head over to Shamu stadium.

The Shamu show was good to watch and I got awesome pictures.  I purposely sat up high so I could get good pictures and not risk getting soaked. The one thing that blew my mind with that show was watching the trainers basically be able to stand on the noses of the whales and be pushed across the pool or even have them stand as the whales put them in the air.  It was a blast to watch and I got awesome pictures of it.

After the show I walked across the park and got in a few rides on the Steel Eel.  This coaster is like Steel Force at Dorney Park in that it doesn't have any loops or other elements, it's your basic out and back coaster, but it goes across the park, so it is a good long ride.  Don't bother with riding in the front, the back is a much better ride.  You get some sick airtime as you go up and down the hills.

From there I wandered the park and hit all the various exhibits that were open.  I saw the penguin house, then went over to the sharks and coral reef aquarium.  After getting out of those it was feeding time for the dolphins so I bought a tray and got to feed dolphins as well.  With that tray came a coupon for buy one get one free for feeding the sea lions, so I went over and fed the sea lions as well.  One of them was very vocal about getting fish from you, another one tried to be cute by slapping the water with his fin to get your attention.

Before leaving the park, I hit Journey to Atlantis, got wet on that one since it's the giant raft down the slide.  Luckily it was a sunny day at the park.

Tuesday morning I was going to take my brother to Six Flags, then I found out they don't open that park until 4 PM, whereas Sea World had opened at 10.  So we got to wait until the late afternoon.  I would also find out that they do things a bit different there, as some parts of the park were closed.  Only 5 of the 8 coasters were open and that didn't include their biggest one, Superman (jerks!).  However, we did make a good evening of it.  Our first ride was on boomerang, because since it is the same as the Carolina Cobra at Carowinds, it means there is only one car, so it's best to ride it soon after the park opens, before the line gets long, especially when everyone else is going to Goliath.  We worked our way back to Tony Hawk's big spin, which my bro absolutely loved.  Next I went on the Romp Stomp a Bomp (don't judge me, I wanted the credit :-P) before we went over to Goliath.  Goliath is a lot like Talon at Dorney Park, and the line for any row but the front was short, so we managed to get on very quickly.

Our last new coaster to ride was the Road Runner Express.  It is the first time I have seen a steel coaster disguised to look more like a wooden one.  I think we had the most fun on that coaster.  One thing that we had seen that was put in for the holidays was a sledding hill for folks to ride down.  My bro and I each took turns riding and got a picture of the other going down the hill.  Since I couldn't go sledding after the big storm in DC, might as well do some sort of sledding here, right?

From there we repeated some of our rides, doing Tony Hawk, Goliath, and the Roadrunner again.  I did try going through some of the shops to find some fun souvenir of Six Flags, but there were no good magnets, or even good Wile E. Coyote items.  I thnk it's because it's late in the season.

It's too bad that the other coasters were closed, so I gues I will just have to try and get back to San Antonio next summer to ride those missing coasters in my list.  Both parks were fun, especially when I haven't been to a place like Sea World for a few years.

Another Haunting

About a week before Halloween I'm online and I get a message from a bud I had met the previous month during the Labor Day weekend.   He was looking at going to King's Dominion's Halloween Haunt and wanted to have a buddy go along with him.  I figured it sounded like the opportunity for a good time, so I agreed to go.

Saturday morning, MX picks me up and we drive down to KD, getting there around 11 AM.    Now unlike my last trip during the Halloween Haunt, they were running two cars on each of their coasters, so lines were a lot shorter this time.  It also had been raining earlier in the day, so things were a bit damp.  There was a bit of worry about the weather because it was going to rain later that night.  However, we were going to make the best of it.

The first ride was on Dominator, which was a blast.  Then it was off to Volcano.  MX remarked how much you actually stay up around the top of the mountain before coming down.  There is some truth to that, so if you're afraid of heights, you might not like this coaster, but then again, you might not be much of a fan of roller coasters either.

Next it was Avalanche, then onward to Back Lot Stunt Coaster, and Flight of Fear.  This weekend they kept Flight of Fear open as a coaster until 4 PM before closing it to make it into one of the haunted attractions that evening.  We then hit up the drop tower, which again, that is the sort of ride that truly will scare me.  Anaconda was on the agenda, and for whatever reason, it seems like it was running slower than usual.  I wonder if that coaster may eventually go the way of the dodo, though that might be difficult because of its location.

Moving onward after stopping for lunch, the next ride was on Shockwave before hitting up Grizzly.  Walking back to go on Dominator again, we stopped and rode Scooby Doo's Haunted Mansion.  I will be curious to see what they're going to do with most of the kids area next year when it's all converted from Nickelodeon and Hannah Barbera to Peanuts.

From Dominator it was back over to ride Drop Tower again.  It was while waiting in line there that we'd end up making some new friends for the evening, S and T, who were a (straight) couple from Richmond.  They were at the park on Twilight tickets, and hadn't attended a haunt before.  Once I started telling them about it, T's eyes lit up, she was all about going to do the scary stuff.

So we hung out for a bit and then the haunt stuff started.  Hit up Club Blood and then the Toxic Dump before walking over to see if there was a short line at Volcano.  Unfortunately when we got there, it had started to rain again, so they had shut down the ride.   To get out of the rain, we hit the alien themed haunted house.  After getting out of there the rain had calmed a bit, so we went over and hit up Volcano.

After stopping for dinner, we took a ride on the Crypt and then walked over and hit up the Slaughterhouse haunt.  Now let me just say here that basically MX doesn't do the scary stuff so well, at least when it comes to the surprise scare, which is what most of the houses are.   When it came to the groups, it was in the order of T, S, MX, and myself in the houses, since the two braver folks had to bring up the front and rear of the line.  It did make for a different experience with some of the scary folks, considering I was usually the leader of the group the last time I was there.

Moving onward we headed for Dominator.  Now I figured because of the rain driving folks out, we would have a short line, including for the front, which was fine because I needed to pee by then.  However, fate decided to fuck with me this night.  As we're in line, it starts to rain again.  Being the diehards that we are, we stayed in line, while others left, so it got us rather close to the front.  However, it would be about 15 minutes before the rain would stop enough to get going again.  I hate that I had to do this, but when it came close enough to our turn, I walked across to head for a bathroom because I had to pee so bad by then that I don't think hitting several G-forces of turns would have been a good idea.  Oh well, it's not like I won't be riding in the front of Dominator ever again.

We then tried to hit Blackbeard's Revenge, but due to the rain, apparently it made that haunt muddy and possibly unsafe for folks.  So I led us over to Maze of Madness, but that was closed as well.  This was probably because by then it was 11:45 and the park was going to be closing in 15 mins.  MX and I ended up saying our goodbyes to T and S and headed to the nearby hotel where we had gotten a room for the night.  It was a good idea because we were both tired.

The next morning, it was get up, have breakfast, and then head back to DC.  Thanks to the time change, it meant getting back just before the football games started.  Overall it was a fun time this weekend, and I got to hit a few more of the haunt attractions as well.  MX said he had a fun time as well, despite some of the haunting stuff.  Now the season is over, but there's always next year for me (yay season pass!).

First Halloween Haunt

During the month of October, many theme parks are open with some kind of a Halloween theme going on to get patrons in there on the weekends.  King's Dominion is no exception.  I have never gone to a park on Halloween, but since I have a couple of buds who love Halloween and wanted to go, it was just a matter of picking a day and getting our asses down there.

So last Saturday morning the plan was to meet up with DB and CT in DC where we would go to brunch, RC would meet up with us later and we'd all ride down to King's Dominion (KD).  As with any leisure trip, things don't always go to plan.  When the three of us tried to find a place to park in DC, we ended up saying "screw it, we'll find something along the way."  I tried calling RC but then I was getting no answer (he was at the gym) so eventually we said we would just get on the road.  Right as we were getting on 295, RC calls me back, and he is on his way to meet us.  So I turn us around and we head to Greenbelt to do brunch at the Silver Diner while RC got himself together.  After we finished with breakfast and coordinating meeting up, we got on the road and down to KD.

I'll mention here that the weather was predicted to have showers on and off throughout the day, and according to park policy, unless the rain was sustained long enough, they don't usually close rides, so we decided to risk the weather and go anyway.  I mention this now to set up the context for later on.

The first ride DB, CT, and myself hit is Dominator, though it turns out the line looked deceptively short.  It was here that I would realize that they were only running 1 car at a time on Dominator (and as it turned out, on all the other coasters as well), so that meant longer wait times.  It was a bit disappointing because one of my bragging points about KD and similar parks is the short waits.  However, considering it's October, and most of their staff is back in school, not much you can do about it.  If there is anything I would definitely change, it would be to have security catch the stupid fuckfaces who can't go through a coaster line without lighting up a cigarette.

Next up was avalanche, and by now it started to rain.  After that ride we dashed for one of the shops and bought umbrellas.  Moving forward, we got into line for Anaconda, and were on the train within two runs because there was practically no one there.  So we got in and everything started up.

And then it happened...

For the very first time in my life, I had a roller coaster actually stop during the ride.  In this case, we were just out of the station and going up the lift hill.  So the chain stopped, and we were just holding there.  The staff came up the stairs and said that something had tripped the fault protection so the fail-safe kicked in and stopped the ride.  Maintenance would reset the ride and see if it would start again, and if it did we would continue on our merry way, otherwise they would have to get us out of there.  Did I mention it was still raining?  I could at least look over and see the construction of the new Intimidator 305 that had been done.  Of course, DB has some dark humor going on about how this could end up being one of those CNN moments, and that at least we're not stuck upside down.  I vowed to him that if he jinxed us into getting stuck upside down on a coaster, that I would find a way to get out of my restraints, reach behind me, and strangle him.  About 5-7 minutes later, the ride started up again and we completed it without any other mishap.

Backlot Stunt Coaster was next, and it was good as usual.  After that it was beginning to get a bit late and almost time for dinner, so we found our way over to the Country Kitchen.  KD was running a deal for a buffet dinner so we took advantage of that for our dinner.  Fried chicken, brown sugar ham, mashed potatoes, corn, green beans, biscuits, and such were enjoyed by all.

After dinner, the haunt started.  Now the park was filled with fog and the ghosts and goblins were coming out to play.  Of course it is now sunset and everything is dark.  We saw plenty of scary looking people who were following customers around, and it caught people off guard, very entertaining to watch.  We made our way over to Grizzly and had a ride on that, before we started in on the official haunt activities.  Grizzly is fun to ride in the dark because there are some spots that are pitch black; it adds an element of fear.

After regrouping we started hitting some of the haunted mazes.  They're basically areas that each have a theme to them, and most of the scaring is done by startling people.  The rule however is that the costumed folks cannot touch you, and so you don't touch them back either.  Anyway, so first up was Toxic Plague, definitely nasty looking, and scary at parts.  Then there was club blood, if you like vampires, it's fun.  After that we decided to head over to the Volcano roller coaster as a break and to hopefully take advantage of a shorter line.  It wasn't shorter, but we sucked it up and waited.

After Volcano we hit the Alien Outpost.  This maze is what a part of the Flight Of Fear coaster has been converted to for the haunt.  After that was the Big Top Terror.  Outside of this ride is a person selling polarized glasses for $1.  Spend the $1 because it makes the maze so much more fun with all of the 3D effects.  We went to try and hit Elvira's Superstition, which is a show inside the action theater, but it was closed at the moment due to mechanical issues.  So we hit the Maze of Madness instead.

By this time it's starting to get pretty late, and so we hit the Starbucks for coffee.  I would especially need it since I was driving home.  We decided to try Elvira one more time for our final Haunt "ride" but if not there, then we would head over to Feary Tales.  Elvira was open so we got in there and got to go on a rather wild ride.

By the time all was said and done, it was about 11:45, the park would close in 15 minutes and I knew full well it could turn into a clusterfuck if we tried to leave when the park closed.  So we took off back to D.C.

So Halloween Haunt, definitely worth it, despite the disadvantage of longer lines for roller coasters.  I will be doing it again next year, and that's already guaranteed because I renewed my season pass back in September.  In fact, I will be going again on Halloween because a guy I met recently wants to go, we'll see if he enjoys it as well.

King's Dominion - Sept 2009

Yesterday I made my second trip to King's Dominion for this season (a third trip will be in the works) partly because I had bought a ticket to attend an after hours party there.  I also brought a friend along since he had never been to the park and he wanted to go.

We got to KD after a later start (he's an EMT and needed some extra sleep) and luckily traffic was no major issue.  Oddly enough though I had a computer snafu that involved my season pass.  When I got to the park my pass refused to scan, saying it was invalid for parking, so I had to pay to get in there.  However, when I took my pass to guest services, for some reason it was valid for admission, but not for parking, which was wrong because of the level of pass I had.  Luckily I was able to get that parking fee refunded.  Still odd though because for the entire summer I've been going into KD and other Cedar Fair parks and not had a problem at the parking gate.  However, I do know how databases can screw themselves up and such.  Thank god for good customer service.  I did also go and renew my season pass for next year, so I will be good and ready for Intimidator 305 (The pieces are already in the parking lot, waiting to be put together).

First ride was on Dominator, which was a blast as usual, then Volcano, Flight of Fear, Back Lot Stunt Coaster, Avalanche, Hurler, Rebel Yell, and Grizzly.  All of them had relatively short lines because the park wasn't as busy as it would be on a summer day, and again, the folks are smart enough to keep enough cars running to keep the lines moving.  We did watch one guy practically have to be stapled into one of the cars on flight of fear because of how tall he was, though somehow they made him fit.  Still, all the rides were fun.

At the end of the regular time at the park, we stepped out and got in the lines to get in for the party.  I called up my friends MB and JHs to let them know where we were and made arrangements to meet once inside the park.  This was their first time at the park so I basically spent the night playing tour guide.  There were probably a few hundred people there when things got started.  I don't know what the official numbers were for how many actually showed.  Hopefully it was enough to continue justifying doing this.

Along with MB and JHs were K&D as I know them.  I had met them in the past but didn't realize we had mutual friends, so they were along as well.  All together we rode Dominator, Volcano, Flight of Fear, Anaconda, and Back Lot Stunt Coaster.  For some reason it took a few minutes to get the rides going once they started letting people in, but then the lines were rather short, so that meant getting to repeat some coasters that we liked again.  Ultimately by the time the rides were over, we had gotten to finish with riding Dominator one more time.  It was a lot of fun and I was glad to be able to meet up with friends to do so.

After the rides were over there was a dance party in the center area.  I was driving so I didn't do any drinking while there, but I did hang and chat with folks I knew before heading home an hour before the party was to end (1 AM).  The reason I did that was because I knew if the parking lot was going to be anything like Carowinds, I would have been in a clusterfuck to get out of there, and I was going to be tired enough as it was.

What else can I say other than I love this park, and with a new coaster coming there and to Carowinds next year, already my season pass will be justified.

The Woods and Dorney Park

So to round off my travel for the last few weeks, I made tracks up to Lehighton, PA to go to The Woods, which is a campground I visited last October (pictures), but decided to visit again. The reason for this visit is because I have forever heard about attending one of the theme weekends there, and so I decided to go for it.

I left work Friday afternoon and drove straight up there. Thanks to GPS I was able to avoid the hellacious traffic on I-95 and I-83 and make it there in a decent amount of time. I got to the registration desk and the woman there recognized my last name as Italian and therefore after that I was known as "paisan." She also remarked that I needed to grow my hair longer (my DL photo has me with longer hair) but I said I only did that during the winter. She said I need to "winterize it" then. I think I'll stick with my short hair until I have to stop wearing sandals outside ;-)

I got out to the field and got my tent set up. Strangely enough I was actually not hungry that evening so I did not bother cooking. Instead I headed over to one of the sites where I knew that a friend of mine, DB, and the group he had come up with were staying. They had left to go to dinner in town, so I wandered around the campsite and looked at how all of the permanent sites were decorated since last time most people had already packed their things up for the winter. I also took a walk around the lake. Thanks to all the rain this summer, the water was actually coming over the dam and into the creek.

I got back and ran into DB and his crew and hung out with them for most of the evening. We went over to where there was the bonfire and such and chatted with a few folks. I had to stick my fingers in my ears at one point because I could hear someone butchering "Last Dance" over at karaoke. I refuse to let anyone ruin Donna Summer for me ;-) Friday night ended up being chilly with plenty of dew by 10 PM, which made for a chilly tent, but luckily I managed just fine.

Saturday was spent hanging out by the pool for the most part. It both helped and hurt that it was overcast out (storms were going to come along later). Still was enjoyable for the most part. Nothing really to report there except for laying out and having a few beers in the afternoon before heading back to the tent to fry up some burgers for dinner. Afterward I was over at one of the sites hanging out with buds until the thunderstorms started around 9ish. For the next five hours or so it would pour rain and flash lightning. Things looked okay at first, but then the ground ended up saturated and so the water started to run. I was concerned because I was towards the bottom of a slope. However, nothing got wet in my tent, thankfully. I did get to fall asleep listening to the rain.

Sunday most people left by the afternoon, however, I stayed because I had Monday off so there was no reason to drive back towards DC and have to fight traffic with all the other folks who were coming back from their weekend getaways. DB was staying as well since I had my planned trip to Dorney Park, which he had never been to before. I was able to move over to his site by paying the difference between what I paid for the field and what the cost of a site was, in this case a whole $2 since it was a weeknight. I really had to break the piggybank for that one.

It turned out to be a gorgeous day so we headed out to chill by the pool. Towards dinner time we ended up chatting with a few of the perm site campers, and one of them told us to visit his site and go meet his partner. We did so and ended up invited to have ribs with them and play cards since the folks on the site basically do dinner and play cards on Sunday nights. Let's see, ribs vs hot dogs/hamburgers for dinner...which would you pick? ;-)

So DB and I went back and got our S'mores stuff to offer for dessert. The ribs and side dishes were awesome and there was more than enough for all of us. We then started a round of Wizard before going and making S'mores. After S'mores we all hung for a bit before DB decided to head up for bed. I wasn't tired so I decided to stick around for while longer. I eventually did head back to the tent and crawled into bed as well.

Monday morning we got up and I fried up some eggs and bacon on the Coleman before packing up my car and driving to Allentown, PA to visit Dorney Park. Once again it was another Cedar Fair park so it meant free access for me, and I found a discount ticket for DB. The first coaster was Talon, which was a lot of fun. DB didn't ride that one because it seemed like he couldn't quite fit the seat (the arms are a bit narrow) but it turned out later that he needed to slide into it rather than just try to sit down from the top. Anyway, we moved on to Hydra, then Thunderhawk, and then Steel Force. When we came to Possessed (formerly known as Voodoo) I rode that one on my own. The last new coaster for DB was to ride the Wild Mouse. From there, it was a matter of repeating any other coaster rides. We did try going to Talon again so DB could get a ride on it but it broke down right before we got there. It actually stopped on the lift hill, so they had to let everyone off of that. I didn't see it get back up and running the rest of the day. I know in a situation like that it's usually because some fail-safe went off on the coaster itself, likely a problem with one of the restraints for whatever reason. Better safe than sorry, perhaps that's why you don't hear of any major accidents at a place like Dorney Park, plus at least they work on trying to fix it rather than look like they're just screwing around up there.

Anyway, so we repeated a number of the coasters, which is something I love to do anyway. I was reminded of why I like Steel Force even though it doesn't look like anything fancy. It is a long ride with lots of air time from the hills, and even someone who gets dizzy from coasters could ride it since there's no loops or major curves. I also love Hydra because that does have some sick turns.

Late in the afternoon it was time to head back to DC. I knew there was going to be traffic, but that was just how it was. I really need to teach my GPS to avoid I-95 because it seems to try to send me there because it thinks it's faster, even with the traffic delays factored. We took a bit of a scenic route on the Baltimore Pike (US-1) to get past a lot of the traffic crap before finally getting me home to drop my stuff off, and then getting DB to his place so he could drop his stuff as well.

So it was another fun weekend for me, that's for sure. Now I just need to plan when the next roller coasters come up :-D

Carowinds Day 2, and Heading Home

For my second day at Carowinds I got to the park a few minutes early before they opened, in time to witness the ceremony they were doing to honor the men and women of our armed forces. The park opened and the first ride I went for was the Carolina Cobra, which is new to the park this year, but actually is a roller coaster that is used in several parks.

The thing about Carolina Cobra is that if the line gets long, it will take a long time to get to ride, and that is simply because of the design of the ride. Only one car can be on the track at a time, period. After the train is loaded, it is pulled up the slope on one side before being released. After going through a cobra roll and loop it reaches the other slope, where it is pulled up a bit, before being released and sent backwards through the loop and cobra roll to the station. There's no way more than one car can be put on the track, so it does take a while to get there. I've ridden one like it before at Six Flags America as "Two-Face: The Flip Side" so I'm familiar with the design. However, if I want the coaster credit, I have to ride it as the Carolina Cobra at Carowinds or else that's just plain cheating.

I then hit Vortex, which is a standing coaster. Normally I love standing coasters, but I also forget that at times the restraints can play hell with your junk. Think about it like if you were coming over a rail fence except when you straddle it, your feet just barely stand flat on the ground, so move a centimeter downward and you're gonna hurt a bit. Perhaps there was a reason I didn't ride it again ;-) With that however, it did complete all of the coasters that I could ride at Carowinds, and now I am at 108 different coasters.

From here I started hitting some other coasters for repeat rides, such as Carolina Cyclone and Afterburn. I also went and hit the drop tower ride. It's a ride that pulls you up to the top of the tower and then drops you straight down to the near bottom. To be perfectly frank, if you want to hear me scream like a bitch, put me on that ride. It definitely taps a bit of my fear of free falling from a high place, and it's why you will probably never see me skydive, unless I'm trying to give myself a heart attack.

After about 3 hours at the park, it was starting to get hot, and I had been dealing with a headache since I woke up, so I decided to head back to the hotel and wait for it to cool off outside before going back to the park. I napped while watching Deadliest Catch since there was a marathon that weekend. Was I the only one that noticed they used a Blue Crab for the promos for the marathon? It's kind of funny they did, considering that there are no Blue Crab in the Bering Sea, it's too cold them for them.

Around 7:30 I went back to Carowinds and the first thing I ended up doing was hitting up one of their shops for more Nickelodeon merchandise, namely because the items that were 50% off yesterday, were now 75% off. Parents were definitely all over that stuff because it meant getting lots of Dora the Explorer and Spongebob Squarepants stuff for really cheap. I have taken care of some gifts for birthdays and Christmas now. I talked to the girl at the register while she was scanning my stuff, and she partially confirmed my hypothesis on why the Nick stuff was out the door. Cedar Fair wants the stuff gone because they're going to bring in their own stuff. So folks, if you're really desperate to see the kiddie area of Carowinds as the Nickelodeon version, this is your last season. I'm expecting next year it will all be Peanuts themed.

Anyway, so I got that done and then hit a few more coasters and the drop tower again before heading to the front gate for the fireworks show at 10 PM. The fireworks were great, and I saw some unique ones I have not seen in other shows, so it was definitely worth catching for me. In all the show probably lasted close to 20 minutes. I took video with my digital camera of the fireworks, which I hope to have up on YouTube in the next day or two.

Trying to get out of Carowinds was a completely different story. There is only one "official" road that can be used by the public to get out, and I knew it was going to be bottlenecked, so I basically sat in the car, rolled down the windows, put the seat back, and chilled out for about 1.5 hours before making any attempt to get out. By this time there was a second route out of the parking lot, which was to follow a back road around the park to the employee entrance, and use that to get onto Carowinds Blvd. Once I did that, it was a matter of a simple U-turn to get to my hotel.

After waking up Sunday morning, I got all packed up and checked out of the hotel before going over to Shoneys for breakfast. Their breakfast buffet was good, and the server was extremely helpful, to the point she actually packed me an extra drink for the road without me asking her, which was well above and beyond any normal service. Her tip certainly reflected the extra service she gave and she deserved every penny. So if you happen to go to the Shoneys right off of Carowinds Blvd and your server is Wendy, you will be well taken care of.

The drive home was not too bad, though I did hit traffic a few times. For whatever reason, VZ Navigator put me on 95 after a while. From what I heard later, 66 had some major issues going on, so that's what I got stuck with. Either way I did get home, though a bit later than I wanted. Got my laundry done and then was able to chill out before bed.

Ultimately the trip to Carowinds was worth it. I got to experience a number of new coasters, a great experience at the park, and got to see completely new places in the country as well. It was a win-win situation all around. Plus with the visits to Carowinds, I have basically paid for my season pass now. I will likely go back again next summer, and hopefully with a few people in tow.

Carowinds, Day 1

Once again I am off and traveling, this time I will add two states, one theme park, and up to twelve roller coasters to new experiences.  I decided a few weeks ago to check out Carowinds theme park, which sits right on the border of North Carolina and South Carolina next to the city of Charlotte, North Carolina.  Much like Kings Dominion, it was owned by Paramount before Cedar Fair bought it in 2006.

I'm happy to report that so far it has been a high-quality visit, much like my other visits to Cedar Fair parks.  The longest I waited for a ride was about 40 minutes, and that is because it is very popular.  Even with being able to run 48 people through at a time (2 cars x 24 per car) there's still a lot of people who want to ride.

The other thing is that with this trip, I would finally cross the 100 coasters mark.  I have now ridden over 100 different roller coaster rides in the world.  The honor goes to the Thunder Road coaster, on the North Carolina side. Thunder Road is unique in that it is a racing coaster that sits over two states.  One side is on North Carolina, and the other side is on South Carolina.  I happened to ride the South Carolina side first, and then rode North Carolina.  Now there are some who would argue that it should not have counted for two different rides because the tracks are a mirror image of one another, but I see it as different because you're going in different directions.

Anyway, so after the 7 1/2 hour drive to Charlotte (Thank you Vz Navigator for helping me to avoid traffic) I got to Carowinds, parked in the season parking pass area, and got into the park.  After picking up a map and finding my way around, I got to Afterburn first, which had virtually no line, then Ricochet (wild mouse type of coaster), then Thunder Road.  Next I would hit up Carolina Goldrusher, Carolina Cyclone, and the Hurler.  Here's a fun fact about the Hurler.  It was originally named after the movie Wayne's World when Carowinds was a Paramount park, and the speakers at the wait station would play clips from the movie.  King's Dominion has the Hurler as well, and according to the RCDB, those are the only two parks that have it.  

Anyway, I then hit up the Rugrats Runaway Reptar and Fairly Odd Coaster.  These are both small coasters designed for the kiddies, but big enough to allow the kid at heart to ride as well.  It was also the first time I witnessed a hanging coaster for kids because most of them are the standard sit-down cars.  

By this time I had been at the park for about 4 hours, and it was close to 7 PM, so I decided to head to my hotel.  I scored an awesome deal on a Motel 6 about a mile from the park, $55.  I was expecting it to be way more because of the holiday.  It was also what gave me some incentive to head this way for the weekend.

I went back to Carowinds at about 8:30 to get in line at Nighthawk because they would close the queue at 9, and I figured I'd get a ride in since it is normally so busy.  I snapped an awesome picture on my phone of Carolina Cyclone as a silhouette in the sunset.  Wish I had my camera, but oh well.

After that ride, it was time to look for dinner, and that's where I had a bit of a scare with my car.  I had tried driving to one place, but they closed at 10, and it was 9:52, so I wasn't going to be a dick and make them have to work again when the place was empty.  As I'm driving back, I suddenly have white smoke coming out from under the hood and my temperature gauge has shot straight into the red.  I feared that I had a hose bust in there so I pulled into a nearby parking lot and opened the hood.  It turned out that somehow my radiator cap had come loose, so it started shooting coolant from that part of the car, and coolant hitting the hot engine was what produced the smoke.  So I carefully got the loosened cap back into place, but then I had to deal with trying to get the engine to cool back down again because it was still spiking a bit as I would drive.  I'm going to re-check it in the morning and see if I need to add even more coolant than what I already did.  I think the cap came loose because I didn't tighten it up quite enough when I checked out the car this morning.  It's a good thing it didn't happen while I was driving towards Charlotte.  I came to the hotel and ordered pizza delivery instead.

So for tomorrow the plan is to go to Carowinds when the park opens, and hit Carolina Cobra and Vortex since I have not ridden either one yet.  Then I'll hit a few favorites from today, mostly steel so I can avoid being shaken to death.  Wood coasters have their own charm and I like them for the most part, but I have to be careful of how often I ride them because the shaking will give me a bad headache.  I'll probably leave during the hottest part of the day to chill at the hotel and rest up before heading back in.  They're having a fireworks show tomorrow night for the 4th, and I can't wait to see that either.  Sunday will depend on how I feel, I do have a long trip ahead, and I was thinking of heading back around noon, but maybe I'll go earlier.

One other thing I noticed is Carowinds is working to get rid of their Nickelodeon merchandise in the stores.  I'm not surprised, I bet the contract to use Nickelodeon characters in their kiddie area is expiring after this season, and they'll probably bring themselves to be in line with other Cedar Fair parks.  That means next year we'll see a Peanuts themed kiddie area unless for some reason they decide to take out a new license agreement to use Nickelodeon characters.  I doubt it.

Back to Normal

Went and saw the doctor today for a follow-up.  That had to have been one of the shortest visits I have ever had, simply because I'm basically fine.  My scar has healed up very well, and I am up and moving about and look great.  Not much else had to be done except to look at the scar and advise me to keep it out of the sun as much as possible.  Apparently it could end up looking really ugly if I don't.  Now I normally like being out in the sun anyway, so I'll have to make sure to cover it in sunscreen.

Have I mentioned that medical bills suck?  That's a whole other story though.

Besides that, now it means no more restrictions, and it's about freaking time.  I was starting to feel a bit like a blob because there is some exercise I have not been able to do for the last few weeks, such as my shovelgloving, or even some of the strength exercises on Wii Fit.  Now that I can do them again, I will be working out with a vengeance.  I already did so tonight.

Now I can ride roller coasters as well, which is good because I have been making plans to make a few park visits.  As it is, I am up to 96 coasters ridden in the world.  I will be crossing the 100 coasters mark in the next few weeks when I make my very first visit to Carowinds down in Charlotte, NC.  I can't wait to go because it looks like there are some good coasters there, and it's another Cedar Fair owned park.  I also scored an awesome deal on a hotel that is a mile from the park.  Perhaps there is someone who is interested in joining me?

So glad to pick up where I left off, in a sense.

Six Flags vs Cedar Fair

Over the Memorial Day weekend, I took a trip down to Kings Dominion.  For those who are not aware, KD was owned by Paramount, but 3 years ago, Cedar Fair (CF), the parent company of the famous Cedar Point park bought KD and a number of other properties.  The next closest Cedar Fair owned park around here is Dorney Park up in Allentown, PA.

For the last two summers, I have been in touch with my love of roller coasters.  The first summer, I had a pass to Six Flags (SF) here in MD, and last summer, I had a season pass to both the Six Flags and Kings Dominion Parks, and I have to say that I am beginning to see a large difference in how each of the parks operate.  It has started to give me a preference as to which type of park I would rather go to.  Simply put, I get what I pay for.

I pay more for my pass to KD than SFA ($150 vs $95) with what looks like the same benefits on paper.  I get unlimited admission to my home park, and several other parks owned by the same company, free parking, and various discounts.  Of course, if I was at a different SF, I would actually pay more for my pass because I have seen that other SF locations charge more for their season passes.  That's not entirely the point.

I find that I get a much higher quality of a visit from visiting a Cedar Fair owned park than a Six Flags owned park.  Both of them do have plenty of roller coasters and other thrill rides and such, along with your usual restaurants and shops, so that part is pretty much the same.  However, it's a wildly different experience as to how I am treated as a patron at times.

First and foremost, there is a huge difference in attitudes among the workers at the parks.  At SF, most of the folks look like they're bored, they don't want to be there, and their work reflects it.  Hell, I felt at KD that they wanted me to be there, which is not a feeling I have gotten at any SF park.  I experienced more breakdowns of coasters at SF parks last year; not that there wasn't the occasional mishap at a CF owned park, but it seems that they moved really fast to get things going again and to keep the folks happy.  

One other thing I noticed was more often than not, it would be at an SF owned park that the coaster would run one car at a time when they have the capacity to run 2-3 cars, and the line is approaching an hour.  Very annoying.  At KD I rode Dominator, which is a very popular ride, but the most I waited was about an hour, and that was with the line being all the way back to the entrance, yet because it seems their workers understand that it's important to keep things moving, I had no issue with standing in line.  In fact, at Cedar Point, I don't remember waiting an obscene amount of time to ride their coaster, they kept the line moving. 

Also, while SF has the cheaper season pass, they make up for it by nickel and diming you with fees.  They have taken away the bins next to the rides for people to leave their stuff.  Now you have to pay for a "ride locker" before you can even get in line for a ride.  It's typically $1 for 2 hours, and it's a one-time use locker; once you open it again, it's done.  It makes bringing a backpack very inconvenient, they likely do it so that you don't carry around water bottles and such and instead buy food at the park.  Personally, I'd rather keep my Camelbak with me so I can just drink water as I stand in line and drop it in the bin when I actually ride.  One way I have been able to get around it on occasion is to rent a locker for a flat fee at an SF attached water park since those you can typically get in and out all day.  Any CF owned park I have been to does not have a ride locker, they still have their bins next to the ride itself that you drop your stuff in, and I hope they will keep it that way.  At least I can be happy to report that KD has them this year.

Hell, now that I think about it, CF owned parks don't have to utilize a "fast pass" type of system because they tend to keep their lines moving.  A few times I actually paid extra money at an SF park to be allowed the privilege to line jump using their "flash pass" system, and that was because the lines would get way too long for their own good.  Then again, if their workers actually cared about their job, they might actually move people through the line efficiently.  Of course, if that were to happen, fewer people would buy flash passes, the park wouldn't make as much money off of fees for extras like that, and those workers would probably get fired.

So ultimately, even though I pay a bit more money up front for a season pass to a CF owned park, the quality of my visits make it worth every penny of the extra fee.  Considering how many extra "fees" I would have to pay at an SF park, I probably end up paying for that pass in the end.  This is why I find if I have a choice, I'd rather go to a CF owned park.  It's only the proximity and slightly lower cost of the SF season pass that keeps me buying, but if they ever raise their rates, I wouldn't be as upset to drop buying a pass from them.  

Perhaps I am not the only one that thinks this way about the parks, and perhaps that is why Six Flags is in trouble financially while Cedar Fair is doing just fine for the most part. 

One Day Sale - Buy Now!

If you're a roller coaster junkie like I am, you're going to want to take advantage of this. For today only, Six flags is offering their season passes for 20% off of the pre-Memorial Day price. This is an awesome deal, especially in my area.

Here's how it breaks down:

If you buy your season pass after Memorial day at Six Flags America, it's $90. If you buy it before Memorial Day, you pay $5o. If you buy it today, it's $40. Consider that the cost of a 1 day ticket is $50, your total savings today off of the regular season pass rate is the same as a 1 day ticket. If you will go to the park at least once, this is an awesome deal!

Here's the further benefit, you can also purchase season parking for another $45, which means being able to park all season long for free. Consider that parking is $15, that's worth it. Oh, and did I mention that your season pass and parking will work at any Six Flags in the country? That's right, you don't just have to stay in Maryland, you can drive 2 hours to New Jersey and go to the Six Flags there with free parking and admission. I may make a trip out to CA to go to Magic Mountain this year on the pass :-D

So if you like the coasters and you'll go to the park at least once...buy now!

Cedar Point Trip Pictures

Cedar Point Coasters, originally uploaded by theblackdog2071.

The pictures are up on Flickr from my trip to Cedar Point and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame last month.

Luau, Kings Dominion, State Fair

Saturday night I went to a party to celebrate the 20 year anniversary of some friends I knew from church. They decided to throw a luau themed party and it was pretty awesome. I decided to make two batches of gougeres for the party, one batch of Blue Cheese, and the other using Cheddar Cheese. They ended up being a hit, and my priest wants the recipe for it, and a few other folks as well.

The party itself was a night of chatting with various people about anything, including roller coasters and football, two of my favorite subjects. There were also conversations that if you came in at the wrong time, the conversation sounded totally wrong, including a discussion of someone's thighs.

Either way, it was a good night overall.

Sunday I went to Kings Dominion with JH, where I rode the other side of Rebel yell for coaster credit 96. We also rode Dominator and Scooby Doo for coasters. Other rides included the log flume, whitewater canyon, screaming eagle, and the space flyer. For the last weekend in the park there were a lot of people there. Unfortunately you could also tell that they had already lost staff to folks going back to school as some rides were only operating at half their capacity, or in the case of the space flyer, there was only one person to check all the riders and operate the ride. It was ridiculous that it took 40 minutes to get through three groups of riders. I would think that if it's down to just one person operating it, either they need to put on extra help, or just consider not running the ride at all. That's way too many things that one person has to do.

After the Space Flyer we called it a day and headed back to DC. That evening I headed up to Baltimore to meet a friend, LS, who just moved to Baltimore from Phoenix. I got to see his new apartment, which is pretty sweet, and very conveniently located to shopping and the bars. We watched The Birdcage and chatted for a bit before I headed home.

Monday I hit Arundel Mills mall to look around and ended up scoring a deal on some Ravens hats, then it was over to JH's to plan to go to the MD State Fair. He wasn't feeling well at first so I waited around for a bit until he felt better. We went over to Timonium and first tried to find parking around the fair, which was a no-go. So we drove over to a nearby light rail station and hopped that to come down to to the fair.

The fair itself was interesting, but very very crowded. It didn't quite help that it was very hot that day. We spent more time inside than outside for obvious reasons. Eventually after seeing all the vendors, the arts and crafts, and buying some candy from the bulk candy place, we took off for the Glen Burnie area to have dinner. We went to Costas Inn and had whole crabs. I have to admit these were some of the best crabs I ever had. They were full of flavor and there was lots of meat to eat. It was enjoyable.

Afterward we played a round of mini golf. I didn't do too bad, finishing 3 strokes behind JH. Of course, now I learn he purposely screwed up on a few holes so as not to completely kick my ass at the game...bastard :-P Either way, it was fun. There have to be more places around here to play mini golf.

So that sums up my labor day weekend. How was yours?

Cedar Point

As a sort of reward for completing the show, I took off with JH to Cedar Point this past weekend. We flew into Cleveland, rented a car, and drove up to Sandusky, where JH would show me the outside of Cedar Point since the park was already closed by then.

To put a lot of how I would be feeling on the first day of being at the park into perspective, let's keep in mind that I was still as sick as a dog from the vocal strain, chest congestion, and nasal drip. However, I had also vowed that unless I needed to be in the hospital, I was not backing out of my trip. What I did get to deal with on some rides was that the G-forces put pressure on my chest, which already can be bothersome for me (little to no "padding" around the lungs) and it just felt worse since my lungs were irritated.

My first ride was on the Wicked Twister, which is very similar to Voodoo in Dorney Park. It's a big U-shaped track and you go back and forth between the two ends three times. That one is always fun. Next we went onto Millenium Force, which is one of my top rollercoasters to ride now. It goes fast and has plenty of turns, but it's not overdone with the thrill elements. Definitely ride it while at Cedar Point.

Next was the Cedar Creek Mine Ride. It was a good ride, we just got to deal with the woman who was apparently afraid of coasters, so she whined through the whole ride about how she was scared and that she was going to kill so and so for suggesting the ride. After we got off, I had to cough up some lung butter and spit, and she started claiming to her group that I was puking. If I was puking, my head would have been over that garbage can longer than 5 seconds lady.

We moved on to Maverick, which had the longest of the lines we would deal with, at 1.5 hours. The ride was worth it though as not only did you get lifted up the lift hill pretty fast to start the ride, but in the middle of it you hit a magnetic launcher that got you going fast again. As we pulled up to the station, the cars stopped. Apparently one of the cars ahead in the station had stopped at the bottom of the lift hill and wouldn't go up so we were waiting outside. I didn't mind because for whatever reason I just wanted to be in the sun and warm. I was also tired as well, which was strange because I had slept for a good 8 hours the night before.

After that JH's companion TX was going to arrive at the park. By this point I had been feeling like I had been walking for miles and miles and my feet were ready to quit. So I sat down at the bleachers over near the Top Thrill Dragster and actually napped for a few minutes while JH went to get TX. I felt better after that.

We hit Raptor, Gemini, Magnum XL-200, Blue Streak, Iron Dragon, Mantis, and Corkscrew before calling it a day. One could tell I had plenty of sun that day as my cheeks were red.

The next day it was just JH and I at the park. Originally in the morning we were going to get up at 8:30 and go. I get a text from him in the morning (he was in another hotel room) and he pushes it back to 9:30. At 10 AM I'm calling him up and he is just waking up. Needless to say I snapped at him becuase I don't like being told to wait until a certain time by someone else, have it pushed back, and then they fail to be ready at the appointed time that they set. We got to the park and we rode Disaster Transport, Wildcat, and Mean Streak before finally saying we had enough. Mean Streak was the worst one for me to ride because that one will shake the hell out of you. Don't ride it unless you like trying to put your internal organs back in place.

So now I can say I finally visited the famous Cedar Point and rode most of their rollercoasters. The next time I go back I still have to ride Top Thrill Dragster (among a few others) but I wasn't too mad to have missed that one because I already conqured it's big brother, Kingda Ka ;-)

BTW, I am now up to 95 coasters.

Spank the Yanks

Sunday JH and I traveled to Harrisburg and stayed overnight, so it would save us some time for our trip this past Monday.

We met up with his friend DP and first went to Dorney Park. I picked up my 81st coaster credit by riding Voodoo since it was running this time. It was a fun ride and since the lines were so short, we ended up riding it 3 times. If you can, go for the front.

We rode Laser, Thunderhawk, Hydra, and Talon as well, had some lunch, and then it was off to NYC to Yankee Stadium.

We got to NYC, found parking, and I got in touch with my friend KS, who would be joining us to watch the O's play against the Yankees. While she was on her way, we wandered around the outside of the stadium in our Orioles shirts. Earlier in the week JH had suggested we not wear our shirts, but then he talked with folks and heard that unless we got obnoxious, the fans wouldn't mess with us.

We grabbed dinner at a local restaurant, the food was meh, the service sucked, but whatever, it wasn't the reason why we were in NYC.

We went back to the stadium and got in, where we had to show security our cell phones for some reason. Does anyone have any clue why they would check our cell phones? Still, I couldn't believe we were actually at Yankee Stadium before it vanishes. It was showing its age, but it was still exciting to be there. We also had good seats to watch the game. I couldn't believe what they wanted for a beer there, 8.50 for a can of beer. We didn't buy any while there, we stuck with Coke instead.

So the game would go extremely well for the O's that night, they spanked the Yanks 13-4. It was an exciting game to watch and for the most part the fans left us alone. There was the moron who gave us a thumbs down to our shirts, but that douchebag wasn't even wearing any Yankees gear. One guy did joke that I wasn't going to see George Sherrill (I was wearing his shirt) play that night, and I told him "I'm not complaining." because if Sherrill comes in to pitch, it means that the O's are leading by 3 runs or less.

After the game was over, there were the folks who kept bleating out "Well we have 27 championships!" I think it must be something you have to yell on command in order to be a Yankee's fan.

It was then time for the long drive home to Harrisburg to drop off DP, and then further to Baltimore. We didn't get back until 4:30 in the morning, and thankfully I had slept on and off in the car.

The trip, totally worth it. I'm glad we got to see the stadium before they turn it into a parking garage next year. Now there's plans to hit Shea Stadium before that vanishes as well.

What a busy few days

The last seven days have just kept me busy, but there has been much fun to be had.

In summary, I got denied entry to a bar for a bullshit rule, went to a luau in Baltimore and caught up with folks I haven't seen in a year, traveled to Allentown, PA, and picked up my 81st coaster credit; watched the Orioles spank the Yanks live at Yankee Stadium with JH and KS; lots of rehearsal time and now it's time to memorize; finally getting ready to do some major revisions at work.

Details to follow in the next few days...including photographic evidence of these activities.

Getting Back On Track

JH came over for dinner last night. I cooked up some spaghetti carbonara, steamed veggies, and chocolate zucchini cake for dessert. He was rather impressed that I basically made the dinner in only an hour. I admit it didn't hurt that the night before I measured and combined all of the dry ingredients for the cake together and pre-cooked the bacon for the pasta. It meant less time and mess when I was under a time crunch.

Dinner was good, and so were the after-dinner activities, especially when he saw what I was wearing underneath my clothing ;-)

Afterwards I ran to the store for ice cream, while the weather outside proceeded to just open up and pour down. I'm glad I had my umbrella and only had a short walk to the apartment, but within the 7 minutes I was in the store, the parking lot was basically a river. I also stayed in said parking lot to walk since there were no tall trees nearby for lightning to strike. This rain was also horizontal rain, so I was getting wet even with the umbrella over my head. Got in and the first thing JH said to me was "Wow, the things you do for love" since apparently the back of my shirt was soaked.

We had dessert and watched a few episodes of the Simpsons before going to bed...except that it didn't last too long. The bracket that holds the main support of my bed up decided it wanted to detach from the headboard, so suddenly we were sleeping on a slant. I can fix it, I just need to get a new bracket (the old one bent) and also get a 2x4 to put in front of where the bracket would normally sit. It should provide some extra support, and since the center support is adjustable, I can slide it in to accommodate the new bracket position.

Thank god I still have a fold-out couch until I make the repair. JH threw out the idea of eventually getting a new bed, especially if this one can't be fixed. However, I can fix it now and keep an eye on sales later. Plus then I don't have to Craigslist a broken bed, just one with a mod for better support ;-)

Anyway, so JH and I have hammered out the things that were bothering us, and now we're moving forward together again. Really the problem was a lack of communication in some areas, which doesn't that seem to strike most couples anyway? We opened up the lines to talk to one another, and I hope we'll continue to keep them open.

BTW, in a spur of the moment (and the realization that summer is nearly over, eek!) we have made plans for a trip to Cedar Point in late August. Anyone interested in coming? Flights are cheap now...

What else can I say, other than I love JH and I'm glad we're back together and on track as well. His father may not look at me the same way again, but I'll let JH tell that story since it's worthy of a quote of the week. ;-)

Day 2: 9,8,6,5,17

Yes I'm Still Alive

Wow, just over two weeks without posting, that is totally not like me right now. Especially when it is an unintentional vacation.

So what have I been up to since posting about going to Hershey Park?

• I went to Kings Dominion with JH, CD, and V on the 4th of July. The park was fun, we got to ride their new coaster, Dominator (JH had ridden it when it was over at Geauga Lake). We cooled off in the water park, yes it was crowded, but worth the trip.
• Saw the fireworks on the National Mall on the 4th, I have video saved to my phone that I need to review, and possibly post to YouTube.
  
• Went to Philadelphia with JH, DP, and BD and wandered around there for a bit. The next day we went to Six Flags Great Adventure where I finally rode Kingda Ka. Now I can say that I have ridden the worlds tallest and fastest roller coaster (456 feet at 128 mph). They have got to make that ride longer though, 28 seconds is not enough!
• Started rehearsals for Children of Eden, I'll be playing Cain in Act I and Japheth in Act II. I'll provide more details later.
• Attended the wedding of my friends CJ and George two Saturdays ago. The wedding was great and the reception was well done. I got to chat with a few folks that I haven't seen in a while, and I hope to see again soon.
• Attended a party after the wedding of my friend Chandra, where I saw a few of my Baltimore friends, the night wasn't complete without making someone from my past paranoid, which I admit I had fun with. Karma is a bitch my friend, and you brought it on yourself.
  
• Saw Mr GreenGenes this past Friday at Power Plant Live in Baltimore. The show was awesome of course.
• Went to the Eastern Shore with JH and had fresh steamed crab last Saturday. One of the many advantages of living near a bay.
• I haven't even mentioned work yet, but it's going fine, I have a project that's going to be released for production next month. Next up is a revision to the survey from hell, which will take up my time from now until April 2009.
• After all of my recent coaster trips, I have now ridden 80 rollercoasters in the world. That still puts me 70 behind JH, which I will probably never catch up to since he has a bunch of credits on coasters that don't exist now :-P

So that's the summary of all that has happened so far. Clearly this is what happens when you have a BF who is not a stay at home guy, you don't get much time in front of the computer ;-)

Hershey Park

Originally JH and I had planned to go to Kings Dominion for our Monday off, but on a whim changed our plans and went up to Hershey Park instead.

It turned out to be a gorgeous day at the park, especially since there were moments where it was overcast, so it stayed cool, though it did become a disadvantage at one point.

We started off by riding Great Bear, which is one of my top rides for the day. We moved onward to Storm Runner, which was designed by the same folks who designed Kingda Ka, and it uses a similar launch system and cars. If Kingda Ka is anything like what I experienced today with Storm Runner, I'm in trouble next week at Great Adventure. The shoulder restraints sat up too high for me so I ended up banging them into the restraints, and it made me sore.

It was starting to get warm by the time we finished those two rides, so it was over to the Roller Soaker, which as it's name implies is a coaster where you will get wet. JH and I don't know if people are just inexperienced or the park is trying to save on energy costs, but their way of loading and unloading cars was very inefficient today. Imagine three cars being loaded up, then sent to the bottom of the first hill, where each one goes one at a time, and the next one doesn't go until the first one finishes...and each ride is about 1.5-2mins long. During that time the next batch of cars have been loaded, and they're waiting for the first batch to finish before they get sent to the bottom of the hill. JH said that they didn't used to do it this way, they pretty much kept the cars continuously moving as much as possible. Who knows...

After that it was a trip to the Wildcat, which was a fun wooden coaster. A ride on their Wild Mouse ride was in order before heading to the Lightning Racer, which had to be one of my favorite coasters. It's a dueling coaster, so two cars are loaded and sent out at the same time to race one another. We ended up losing when we rode Thunder, but won when we rode Lightning. It's hard to say which side I like better, Thunder has a thrilling first drop, but on Lightning you get much more air time in your seat. I guess it will depend on what kind of mood I'm in ;-)

After those rides we were going past Fahrenheit (their newest coaster) and it had been closed earlier, but the repair folks were out working on it, so JH and I stopped to watch. We couldn't have timed it better because they were finishing up their work (fixing one of the tires that moves the coaster along after the brakes are applied at the end) and after an initial test, they moved their ladder out of the way, and brought a third car onto the track. We were immediately nearby the entrance, and about 20 mins later when they cycled through the cars, they reopened Fahrenheit, so we were able to get a very front seat rather quickly :-D The ride itself was fun, though JH hated the completely vertical first hill that we had to climb.

We hit Sidewinder, which is yet another boomerang style coaster of the same design as Two-Face in Six Flags America and Flashback in Six Flags New England, but this one uses standard sit down cars rather than inverted cars. I needed the credit for my coaster count profile, so I rode it yet again.

Next was Trailblazer, which to me is the type of coaster you bring your younger kids on to introduce them to a rollercoaster. We were thinking about hitting Comet and calling it a day, but then we saw that the Sooper Dooper Looper was finally opened up (it was closed earlier in the day) so we hopped on that once since there wasn't much of a line.

Overall it was a great day at Hershey Park, and since we now possess 2-day tickets, at some point JH and I will have to make another trip up there :-D

New England

Continuing my series of trips to various amusement parks to hit roller coasters, JH and I went to Six Flags New England. We flew into Hartford via Southwest, which worked out well for a short flight. It's great for once to not have to take a plane flight alone :-)

We got into Hartford, and then got our rental car, we decided to spring for the GPS since we were both in very unfamiliar territory, and the previously printed Google maps were just not making sense at the moment. JH and I were pleasantly surprised at how close Six Flags was from the airport; about 10 miles via a back road.

We got to the park and the first thing we did was go over a purchase a Flash Pass. The Flash Pass is an item you can buy so that you're not standing around waiting in line. You set the pass for a ride, and it provides a reservation time. When it's your time, you go to the Flash Pass line, and they let you in. The limitation is that you can only do this for one ride at a time. If you get the basic Flash Pass, you'll have a reservation time that is far enough ahead of time as if you were waiting in line. If you spend the extra cash and get the Gold Flash Pass, your reservation waiting time is much much shorter. Neither of us had used the new Flash Pass system, but we decided to spring for a gold one. The biggest reason for that was because for Superman: Ride of Steel, the trip reports from other visitors had been that they were only running one train at a time. Considering it's one of the most popular coasters, why put ourselves through waiting for 2-3 hours?

I have got to say that overall by the end of the day, the Gold Flash Pass was worth every penny because it meant we were able to ride every single rollercoaster at least once on Saturday. As soon as we would get into the waiting station to get on the ride, JH would reserve the next ride, and the wait time would be approximately 10 minutes away, so by the time we finished our current coaster ride and walked to the one we had reserved, it was already our reservation time. Also, if certain rides happen to be delayed or closed that day, you'll know on the screen. If you had a reservation and they have temporarily closed the ride, it will push your time back until the ride opens up again.

Getting back to the park, once again we managed to show up on a weekend where there was a cheerleading competition! Third park, third competition; WTF is up with that? Next year I'm checking the calendar of a park before we a trip to it during the spring. So we got to deal with cheerleaders running all over the place, there was no stage mom drama to report this time around. However, there was that moment where some of the more naive girls rode on the raging rapids ride, and they had not even performed yet, so they were freaking out about getting wet and of course they got wet. Girls, this is why you don't listen to your little brother when he tells you that you won't get wet. Littler brothers like to mess with you, haven't you figured that out yet?

So the first ride was on Superman: Ride of Steel. This coaster has been voted as the number 1 coaster in the world so we went into it expecting great things. The ride elements were good and the coaster was fast, but it didn't give the airtime that I was expecting. It wasn't until we rode in the very front later that weekend that the ride got good, so my recommendation is to wait for the very front of the coaster.

Next ride was on the Mind Eraser, which is the same layout as the Mind Eraser at Six Flags America. It was a pretty standard hanging ride, nothing too wild to report there. At first I didn't recognize it because this one still has its original color scheme of teal and red, whereas the one at America has orange and yellow.

Moving onward to Batman: The Ride, this one is different in that it is a floorless coaster rather than an inverted coaster. I have to admit it can be hard to keep all of these coasters straight when they use the same name. Thank god when I was setting up my credits list, I could locate pictures of coasters to figure out if I ever rode them. The ride was better than other Batman coasters in that it didn't feel like I was gypped on the length of the ride.

Thunderbolt is a wooden coaster that's based on a design from the 1939 World's Fair, it has the feel of the Cyclone at Coney Island, but in this case, I didn't end up breaking my ass while riding! Flashback was the next ride, and this one I like because you basically are pulled back up the hill, you fly back down, go through a cobra roll and loop, come up the other hill where you stop...and then go back through the loop and the cobra roll backwards! This was my second time riding one as I did take one ride on Two-Face at SFA last year before it was basically broken for the rest of the summer.

Pandemonium introduces a newer concept to roller coasters that I would like to see on a bigger scale and in a closer park. Not only are you going up and down hills and around bends on the track, the car is able to spin freely as you're doing so. It makes for a fun experience as you basically change positions. We rode that one three or four times that weekend and no two rides were exactly the same. That one would be a good one to take kids on since it's not too scary for them.

After that it was over to Houdini's House. How this ride works is that while you're strapped down to these benches, you feel like you're being raised up while the room is spinning around. JH explained to me that they pull you back and forth at only a 15 degree angle, but because you're surrounded by what is essentially a spinning cylinder, it disorients you and makes you think you're being raised up much more. Next was Tomahawk, which is what is known as a frisbee ride. This one spins while swinging back and forth. I must be gaining a tolerance for these kinds of rides because I didn't feel sick like I used to in the past.

We moved on to ride Cyclone, which was this big wooden coaster in the park. That one was a blast, especially because of the amazing amount of airtime we got on while riding. After the ride, they closed the ride for a few minutes so they could load a second car onto the track. Neither one of us had ever witnessed this being done, so we stood at the exit ramp and watched. Basically they unlock a section of the track, slide it over in front of the garage, roll the new train onto the track, then slide the track back into place. Once it's secured, the car then rolls to the first lift hill and goes through the coaster. It was pretty neat to watch.

After a few more rides, we decided to head out of the park and go to our hotel. This hotel was pretty nice and comfortable. We headed out to dinner at an Italian place that I cannot for the life of me remember the name of. We watched some TV and then crashed.

The next morning we tried to figure out what we wanted to do, we could go to the park, but I was more in the mood to go exploring the area and see what we could find. We figured we'd head north on the highway towards Vermont and would see where that would take us. Our Sunday drive took us up to Vermont, over to New Hampshire, and then back down to Springfield. It was a good way to see the sights, and hey, it meant more states that we got to visit! We did go back to the park, and since there was no competition going on and it was cloudy, there was very little crowding, so we were able to get some rides in without a problem. As the day came to an end, we returned to Hartford to fly back to Baltimore.

The trip was a great one, I would do it again in a heartbeat...or at least when another $49 fare from Southwest comes along :-)