Now That Theme Park Season Is Over

[Oscar]

Now that the theme park season is over, how did you enjoy it? Would you say you rode everything you could and visited every theme park you wanted. Are you satisfied with this year? What were you best moments and best suprises you had in the theme parks?

Last of all, what would you say was the best ride you had this year?

Share with us the stories you have to tell about this year!

Well I expanded my list of rollercoasters a lot.

Best new ride for me this year, well I can't select one. Well, okay here's a top 3:
#1 Black Mamba
#2 Desert Race
#3 Colossos

Overal top 3:
#1 Troy
#2 Black Mamba
#3 Goliath (Walibi World)

http://www.coastercounter.com/maxamaxam

Themeparks I visited this year were:
Walibi World 2x, Toverland 5x, Movie Park 2x, Heide Park 1x, Phantasialand 1x

The best surprise, well that High fall (moviepark) is the most adrenaline rushing attraction for a themepark ever made, However it is smaller then Scream at Heidepark, it has a better experience. Becouse you don't sit, you hang. I was also surprised by how small but beautifull Phantasialand is.

Next year I will be adding al the coasters of Europa Park to my list and also Expedition GeForce and Superwirbel.

I am happy that I worked at Dorney Park again this season. I had a blast with the other supervisors and I got to meet and work with some awesome people. I'm sad to be saying goodbye to Laser though.

Other than that, I was very disappointed. I didn't get a chance to go to Hershey Park to ride their new coaster. I went to Six Flags Great Adventure, but was disappointed by their crappy ride the Dark Knight. Then I had to pay for lockers because I brought my bag into the park. Then the other rides were closed or nonexistant because they decided to get rid of them.

So unfortuately, my season outside of Dorney sucked. Hopefully the 2009 season will be better!!

[gouldy]

This has been the best season I've ever had for me! Purely because I got to go to America and go to SFGAdv.! A genuine American theme park, amazing!

I think the best ride that I have experienced this year is El Toro, absolutely fantastic, the first ride I had on that is probably the best ride experience I've ever had. Front row on Kingda Ka comes in a close second though, my first ride on that was just mindblowing!

Very successful season for me, just because of that one trip, despite having not been to Alton Towers/Thorpe Park/Chessington anywhere near as much as I usually would. I haven't even been to Blackpool or Drayton Manor once this year!

Now that I was able to drive for this season, it was awesome.

Goliath at La Ronde shocked me with how good it was. The airtime on it is absolutely incredible, and as plain as it is, it's better than any other hyper I've been on. Also, Kingda Ka in the front for the first time was amazing. I wasn't able to go in the front last time I was at Gadv. As Gouldy said, it's amazing.

I was able to get to Gadv for its last days which were great. Sales were exciting and the rides had little waits!
Top 3 this year:
1. El Toro
2. Kingda Ka
3. Goliath, LR

New Rides Top Three:
1. Goliath, LR
2. Griffon
3. Vampire, LR

Visited:
Universal Hollywood X1
Santa Monica Pier X1
Universal Orlando/IOA X9
Busch Gardens Williamsburg X1
Great Escape X1
La Ronde X2
Great Adventure X1

Best Season for sure I've ever had!

[hyyyper]

My coastercount went from 47 to 137 thanks to the TPR-East Coast Tour and my own trip to Florida.

I loved every second of it, old top 3's were:
STEEL:Goliath-Black Mamba-Rock'n'Rollercoaster
WOOD:Troy-Tonnere de Zeus-Robin Hood

and they are now:
STEEL:Montu-Talon-Nitro
WOOD:Boulder Dash-El Toro-Phoenix

This year was great. If I had not gotten a car it would have sucked but getting to three of the four closest parks made my season great.

Dorney my home park never lets me down and it looks to be one of the big names in the Cedar Fair chain. All the improvements CF has made there really show but there is more to be done. Laser is going and now the next most forceful helix is on Steel Force but if it has to go, it has to go.

Going to Knoebels was a HUGH surprise! I never expected to go there this season but I am glad my uncle invited me. Last time I was there I was young so I didnt remember much about the park. Now I know they have two world class woodies. Twister is my personal favorite with Phoenix not far behind. I love how this park sticks to the "pay-per-ride" method that many have done away with.

My last trip of the season was on the 2nd of November to SFGAdv. After getting lost and getting to the park 2 hours late it was still great. My fist ride GASM broke with us on the lift. But despite that it was great. Ka in the front as both Austin and goudly said was AMAZING! I never expected Ka to be so great. El Toro was ok. Kind of a let down though. Ranks third on my list of wooden coaster and maybe 7th overall. Ka however, is up high. Might be my third favorite coaster. Great Adventure has many great coasters save for Skull Mountain and Dark Knight.

Overall I give this year and A- to last years B.

Parks Visited:

Dorney - 4
SFGAdv - 1
Knoebels - 1

This year was a really fun year. It was the first time I went on cross-country trips without adults so it was a completely different experience. I worked at SFStl as a lead at Tony Hawk, made two large trips, and two small ones. I'm up to 180 coasters now!

First Trip Midwest:
1-Beech Bend
2-Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom
3-Kings Island
4-Cedar Point
5-Indiana Beach
6-Six Flags Great America

2nd Trip East Coast:
1-Kings Island
2-Kennywood
3-Dorney Park
4-Knoebels
5-Hershey Park
6-Six Flags America
7-Six Flags Great Adventure
8-Six Flags New England

3rd Trip Gatlinburg
1-Dollywood

4th Trip Branson
1-Silver Dollar City
2-Celebration City

Best Steel: Superman ROS, Millennium Force, Maverick, Storm Runner, Top Thrill Dragster

Best Wood: Thunderhead, Evel Knievel, Avalanche, Kentucky Rumbler, Hades

Eh... Could have been better for me, but it was still very fun.

Parks Visited this Year:
Disney's Animal Kingdom
Disney's Epcot
Disney's MGM Studios
Disney's Magic Kindgom
Universal Orlando
Islands of Adventure
Seaworld Orlando
Six Flags Discovery Kingdom

New Rides for Me:
Expedition Everest
Incredible Hulk
Dueling Dragons (Ice and Fire)
Rock'n'Rollercoaster
Thunder Mountain (Disney's Magic Kingdom Florida)
Space Mountain, Both Sides (Disney's Magic Kingdom Florida)
Tony Hawk's Big Spin
Journey to Atlantis (Seaworld Orlando)
Kraken (Seaworld Orlando)
Test Track (Dunno if its a coaster, but its fun and fast)

Favorites:
Steel: Superman R:OS (SFNE), Expedition Everest (D:AK), Incredible Hulk (IOA), Dueling Dragons (ICE, IOA)
Wood: Roar (SFDK), Psyclone (SFMM, RIP)

Next year is going to be the best though. I am going to go to Hershey Park, SFGA (KINGDA KA, EL TORO!!!!!!!!), and the best part, my grandparents are going to take me to CP for my graduation present (MAVERICK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) Could have been a better year, but hey, i had fun.

Cody

Since I live between Busch Gardens in Williamsburg and Kings Dominion, and have a season pass to both, I visited both many times. I like Griffon, but wish BG had a wooden coaster. However, BG is a beautiful park and very well-operated! Besides that, it has great food.

Kings Dominion has the wood (with Grizzly being the best) but the park is not well-operated these days. One train operation and long waits are the norm. I'm proud, though - other than my season pass, I spent $1.00 there during the entire season.

I went to Hersheypark and rode Fahrenheit. Ok ride! I liked the MF trains on Wildcat, and always enjoy Lightning Racer. Had a good day there.

I went to Lakemont Park (Altoona, Pa.) - hadn't been on Leap the Dips in some years, but the rest of my group had never been on it. Quite fun, especially seeing their reactions. The Skyliner was new to me in that location, but I'd previously ridden it at Roseland Park in New York. Same ride. blah....

I spent a day at Kennywood. Always love Kennywood. Favorite ride there is Phantom's Revenge! It was a very good day at Kennywood.

I went to Waldameer Park and rode the new Ravine Flyer 2. Wow!!! What a ride. It made my top ten pretty quickly! Nice park, and had good crowds. I was very happy to see a park doing well that had made a substantial investment. And I was especially happy to see another park that invested in a wooden coaster doing well with it.

I took a trip to New England and spent a day at Canobie Lake and had a good time! Very nice park. I hadn't been there since 1986. I also went to Lake Compounce. I was VERY impressed with the work done on Boulderdash! It's running fabulously. Too bad the park operations left much to be desired....

Finally, I went back to Dollywood. It had been a couple of years. I bought a season pass, since I was going into the park for 3 days. Besides that, now I can go back at Christmas. Mystery Mine ride was new to me.

all I can say is timewarp was ownage

Boulder Dash!

Boulder Dash is not only the best woodie and new ride, but also the best coaster I have ever been on. It actually kills El Toro in my book...I can't even believe how much fun it was. Luckily I got the season just after a triple up was added at the end[:D]

The parks were AWESOME. I got...

Canada's Wonderland (of course)
Lake Compounce
Busch Gardens Europe
Marineland
Cedar Point (two trips)
Waldameer
Six Flags Great Adventure
Six Flags New England
Hersheypark (this time I actually got to ride stuff..[8D]
Dorney Park

My new favourite park (not just for coasters) is Busch Gardens Europe, with Lake Compounce in a close second. Hershey is really great, too.

Best woodies had to be Boulder Dash in first (by so far), El Toro in second and Ravine Flyer II in third.

Best steelies are Storm Runner in first, Griffon in second and Behemoth in third. Maverick and S:ROS are definitely up there too.

Unfortunately, I was really disappointed in Dorney. Sorry, but Hydra is the definition of lame. The jojo roll was sweet though. I was surprised by Steel Force, I thought it was actually a pretty good ride. Talon was awesome, front seat was awesome, but the park just didn't do it for me for some reason. Still had a fun day there, though.

Worst ride of the season is the new Dark Knight coaster at Great Adventure. Such a ridiculously slow moving line for the worst coaster ever. The line was cool inside the building, though.
Also, a pretty cool story, I also happened to be at Six Flags Great Adventure the day that Katy Perry and Shwaze were there, and then later that day I saw Vincent Donofrio just walking around with his kids. Pretty cool, but so busy that I had to get a gold flashpass, which was soooo worth it!

But yeah, overall it was the best season ever. Finally my home park was put on the map with the best B&M hyper so far, and I got to ride some of the best coasters out there (and on the second try, had a successful Hershey trip). Sad it's over, but now I get to snowboard and stuff until the next one! Yeah, awesome year.

I didn't do that many parks this year. A decent number, but still missed a couple things I've wanted to do (Funtown Splashtown and Knoebels).

Best ride I rode this year was Boulder Dash, which has been my favorite ride since 2005, but it was definitely running the best I've ever seen it during this year (I also had 3 visits to the park with night time hours, so that helped). The new triple up is extremely intense and is my favorite part of the ride now.

I also really liked Cyclone at Coney Island, which I wasn't really looking forward to but it surprised me a lot. Some really strong ejector air on pretty much every drop.

Lake Compounce 5x (49 laps on Boulder Dash, 6 on Wildcat, 4 on Zoomerang)
Canobie Lake 1x (4 laps on Yankee Cannonball, 2 on Corkscrew, 6 on Frisbee)
SFNE 1x (1 on all of the coasters except for Mind Eraser (which was broken) and Flashback, 1 on SWAT or whatever it's called, and 1 on Buzzsaw)
Coney Island 1x (1 lap on each of the coasters, and also did Wonder Wheel and Deno's Drop Tower)
Adventurers FEC 1x (1 lap on their coaster, and one ride on the awesome Huss Flipper)
Rye Playland 1x (1 lap on each of the coasters and a ride on The Whip)

Also got to meet a lot of people this year....Nosferatu, Viking86, Nightmare500, Jakizle, Man/Max (again), and a few others.

Pictures from the season: http://www.flickr.com/photos/boulderdas ... 746637275/

Too bad the park operations left much to be desired....

Can you elaborate on this? I've never noticed anything off about their operations, except maybe the new double lapbar checks they do on Wildcat which I think is a bit stupid. But other than that I've always thought they have very good crews that move the lines fast and have fun doing it.

Hmmm... this year was a lot of fun. At least I wasn't doing drum corps, so I got a chance to take an extended trip to HW in the summer!

Parks:
Holiday World (2 trips, 3 days total)
Indiana Beach
SF St. Louis (first visit)
Kings Island

New Coasters:
Everything at SFSL
Steel Hawg
Firehawk

Some quick reviews:

The Voyage still offers the most exhilerating, out-of-control, obscenely intense ride on earth. Nearly every section of the track throws you around, and in dramatically different ways at that. Oh, yeah, there may be a moment or two (or 25) of airtime in there as well. Getting to do 3 laps on a fine summer evening was the highlight of my season. My thighs still ache If you haven't ridden this or been to Holiday World yet, you're really missing out on a great set of woodies in a fantastic park. 11/10

Steel Hawg offered a unique ride for sure. The capacity was terrible, but that's partially understandable with the car design. The first drop is mind-bending, and there are several really fun moments throughout, such as that outside turn. It was not nearly as uncomfortable or forceful as I had feared (I would describe it as smooth, even). That being said, the real reason to go to IB is for the woodies and flat rides... 6/10

Firehawk turned out to be a pleasant surprise after I waited 2.5 hours for it during a cool evening. Certainly not worth that long of a wait, but let's just say that my next project is a flying dutchman. Riding in the front at night was flat-out fun. 7.5/10

Screamin' Eagle is pure John Allen genius, and was excellent at night. 8.5/10
Evel Knievel was a big hit with my girlfriend, and for good reason. Definitely recommended. 8/10
Mr. Freeze inspired my latest ride and was everything I thought it would be but not a whole lot more. 7/10
The Boss delivered a shockingly smooth first ride which was not repeated for the rest of the day. I like a lot of CCIs better than this one, but the scale of the ride was impressive and made it fun to ride. I did not appreciate being forced to pay $1 for a locker at the entrance, especially having gone to HW two weeks prior. 7/10


Overall this year was great fun for what it was, and I went to about as many parks as my college student budgeting would allow. I had planned on traveling to the Dells as well, but couldn't pull it off. I'll definitely be heading back to STSL within the next 4 years; great park. Now it's time to sit back and wait for 2009 to roll around...

[jayman]

i did knott's twice.. and NO pony express.. our meet up in may was awesome.. a really smooth day at knott's, and good company.. the second trip was ok , but it was with freinds who insisted on going on a saturday, and leaving at 630 pm ...

I'm very satisfied with this year in theme parks. I visited the most parks this year I've ever been to in maybe 2 seasons alone with:

Hersheypark
Morey's Piers
Cedar Point
Kings Island
Busch Gardens Europe
Six Flags Great Adventure

Sadly, thanks to my neck issues and recovery from surgery, I rode nothing this year. However, Knott's is calling me in January!

My year sucked....CP once...I didn't even get to go ride my local second hand SLC...

However...I did get my first front row ride on Millennium Force. Best ride of my life...

[Dirk_Ermen]

My season isn't over yet. Since i'm still in Cali doing the parks. [;)] After that it would be over for mine.