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Devil's 2016 Trip Reports: Adventureland, NY

Visited a theme park and have a wild time?!? Post your trip report here and tell us all about it!


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Hey guys! It's great to have theme park season back in full swing! Just like the past 2 years I'll be reporting on all of my trips this year. This year I will be going to:

Bowcraft Playland
Keansburg Amusement Park
Lake Compounce
La Ronde
Six Flags Great Adventure
Dollywood
Beech Bend Park
Kentucky Kingdom
Kings Island
Holiday World
Six Flags St Louis
Silver Dollar City
Worlds of Fun
Adventureland
Ocean City, NJ boardwalk parks

Not necessarily in that order, but it's pretty accurate. I've already been to my first three. Sadly, not too many pictures, but when I get to larger parks that I haven't been to, I will be taking more pictures. As always, though, I will start off with my top 20 from the beginning and I will continue to update it as I go along (if it changes)

1. Boulder Dash
2. Ravine Flyer II
3. Phoenix
4. Wicked Cyclone
5. Maverick
6. Phantom's Revenge
7. Skyrush
8. Bizarro (Superman the Ride)
9. El Toro
10. Manta (SWO)
11. Ride of Steel
12. Intrimidator 305
13. Kumba (BGT)
14. Batman The Ride
15. Superman - Ride of Steel
16. Storm Runner
17. Alpengeist
18. Coney Island Cyclone
19. Montu
20. Comet (Great Escape)

The first day of this summer included 2 small parks in New Jersey. I could have tacked on another mall with a figure 8 SBF spinner but I was too lazy. My sister and I went to Bowcraft Playland and Keansburg.

Bowcraft Playland

Living in North Jersey, Bowcraft is one of the closest parks with a non-kiddie coaster to me, and I hadn't been. I felt obliged to go. We decided to show up a little late to let the park get running before we show up. First impressions were decent seemed like a basic family park with a lot of the basic flats. Decent paving and whatnot. It's right on the side of a street which was slightly interesting. It's not really in the nicest area though. We had to drive through Union, which if you know New Jersey, you know it's notorious for not being such a nice place. The park didn't show that though and the road it was on was nice enough.

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Then we headed to Crossbow...

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When we got there we walked onto the queue, but we couldn't see anyone in the station. When we got to the top, there was no operator. We could have basically walked on the coaster and operated it ourselves no problem. Kind of scary. Figured maybe it was down, so we headed back to the kiddie coaster. That was the same situation, but the flats were running no problem. We asked around and everybody kept saying that "He'll be there soon." Like the operators decided to spend a little more time sipping their coffee. Mind you, we got there 30 minutes after opening. Finally, we saw an operator on Dragon, so we hopped on.

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First coaster of the year was a kiddie coaster! Yay!

Finally, we saw an operator over at Crossbow, so we headed over.

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I know when this opened it was the first of it's kind or whatever. It's also surprisingly tall for a family coaster. I have to say though, I don't really like Zierer, so I wasn't anticipating much, and I didn't get much. Some cool positives though. Definitely a sufficient family coaster, not bad.

The park was ok. It is very affordable for a credit stop, so you won't necessarily regret going if you're interested as long as you don't show up at opening.

Keansburg Amusement Park

We then headed to Keansburg Amusement Park which is on the beach in the bay south of Staten Island. We rode a bunch of flats and picked up the credits. It was a fun park, but the coasters left something to be desired.

We started with the Tilt-a-Whirl which spun quite a bit.

Next was the S&S double shot, which was worth the entire trip (as they usually are). But this one was special. Not only did we get to ride twice, but the view of the beach, Staten Island, Brooklyn and Manhattan in the distance was really great.

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We got the credits next. We headed to Looping Star first and it was even worse than I expected. Maybe I shouldn't have ridden in the back, but this coaster was one of the roughest coasters that I have ever been on.

Next was the kiddie coaster Sea Serpent which had one of the worst jolts on a lift hill lol.

We rode the wave swinger and the pirate ship with both also gave great views. The pirate ship was one of the better ones I've been on at an amusement park, but nowhere near fair/carnival level.

It's a fun park, but if your not from the area, I wouldn't suggest it unless you go extreme credit hopping lol.

Lake Compounce

My sister and I decided to drag my dad along for Lake Compounce this time since he hasn't been. As always, Boulder Dash was only running one train because operations at Palace parks always have to suck apparently...

We were going to head to Phobia first, but it was closed at opening. So our first ride was Boulder Dash. It had been 2 years since our last ride, so we were eager to ride again. Half way through the ride my dad said "It won't stop!" Which perfectly sums up why this is the greatest coaster on the planet. The rocket fast pace of this ride is still baffling after almost 30 lifetime rides. When he got off he said "I just breathed for the first time now" lol. I rode in the very back seat so they could take the smoother seat in front of me. It wasn't too bad aside from two very rough spots. The quadruple up half way through the ride has a valley that's a little shaky, but I can bear it no problem. The actual serious spot is on the triple up at the end. One of the valleys made me bounce up and down a few times in less than a second which was approaching unbearable. It was almost as bad as the first valley on Hell Cat at Clementon Park. The front wasn't so bad, but it was even worse in the front of the back once it had warmed up. I'd say the only way to ride this now is the very front seat, which is disappointing. Regardless, every ride I get on this is better than any ride I've gotten on any other coaster.

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You probably didn't notice, but this picture is reused from my 2014 report. You can tell I was too lazy to take pictures lol.

On my final ride, my dad sat out and we rode in the second to back. The people behind us was an older man with either his child or grandchild. He was laughing the entire way and on every airtime hill he screamed "Woah". When we got to the brake run he couldn't stop laughing. He screamed "Wow" and "Holy Guacamole! I was not expecting that! Holy Guacamole!" This is the reason I love coasters so much. Experiencing things like this with people can make my day. And this guy was so adorable and overwhelmed. The child seemed to be enjoying it as well. And then there are enthusiasts shutting this thing down for being "rough" even before a few parts got iffy.

I have a question though that I hope someone could answer. In the front car, the front left wheel keeps popping up and down on the lift. I've never seen this on any other PTC train. Why is this happening? It just seems odd and can be a little unsettling.

After our first ride we saw Phobia Phear Coaster open, so we headed over to ride it for the first time.

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We rode in the front and back once each. The coaster was really fun. It's funny because I find myself ranking it very close to Sky Rocket at Kennywood (which is the earlier version of this technically) despite being completely different. I think this is slightly better because it's a more complete ride. However, Sky Rocket has some of the coolest inversions. I preferred the front because the downward twist was very awkward in the back since it was combined with the trim. The upward twist in the front was great though. The heartline roll was cool being so high, but I barely noticed the height. The non-inverting loop was just meh and made me grey a tiny bit. The launch had multiple tugs which was weird too. But overall it was pretty good and a great addition to the park even though it didn't empty Boulder Dash's line like I wanted it to.

We rode the log flume which had really slow operations, so we waited forever. We also rode the S&S Screamin' Swing which was, in classic S&S fashion, broken down at the beginning of the day. These are really fun though, but this has a super short cycle.

I had a fun day, but this park needs a serious upgrade in operations if I'm going to be a regular visitor. It's getting ridiculous with the past 4 times having Boulder Dash running 1 train.

After 3 parks, no changes yet to the top 20.
Last edited by devilsrule911 on September 9th, 2016, 8:04 pm, edited 12 times in total.
1.Boulder Dash | 2.Legend(HW) | 3.Beast | 4.Ravine Flyer II | 5.Intimdator 305 | 6.Phoenix | 7.Twisted Timbers | 8.Wicked Cyclone | 9.Thunderhead | 10.Storm Chaser

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Thanks for the trip reports and the neat photos. That family coaster is pretty new if I recall and it's already pretty sun-baked lol. Glad to hear Phobia has G's. :)
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Coasterkidmwm wrote:
Thanks for the trip reports and the neat photos. That family coaster is pretty new if I recall and it's already pretty sun-baked lol. Glad to hear Phobia has G's. :)


Yeah Phobia surprised me with how much force it had. I actually prefer the back seat on that ride since you get airtime on both the upwards and downwards spikes, and quite a lot actually.

And about Boulder Dash's triple up problem, I noticed it too and so has the park, they have said that they will work on it most likely during the offseason.

Please tell me you didn't skip Zoomerang, it's the only smooth boomerang in existence.
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They should go on proudly representing Phobia! That's also the park's proud coaster as well as Boulder Dash! :D
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Thanks for reading guys!!

Coasterkidmwm wrote:
That family coaster is pretty new if I recall and it's already pretty sun-baked lol.


Well, it's been 10 years, and I don't think it's that bad. Maybe a little bit, but I think it's just it's original paint job that makes it look that way. It could just be that those are iPhone photos too lol

Paradox wrote:
Please tell me you didn't skip Zoomerang, it's the only smooth boomerang in existence.


Well, not really lol, but they are hard to come by. It's funny though; I keep hearing that this is the best, but every time I ride it, it is just as uncomfortable as the next boomerang. I actually like the one at Morey's Piers better. Yes I did skip it, but I would skip even the best boomerang if I've already ridden it already. I've given up on thinking that Vekoma will ever make anything good besides Everest lol.
1.Boulder Dash | 2.Legend(HW) | 3.Beast | 4.Ravine Flyer II | 5.Intimdator 305 | 6.Phoenix | 7.Twisted Timbers | 8.Wicked Cyclone | 9.Thunderhead | 10.Storm Chaser

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devilsrule911 wrote:

Paradox wrote:
Please tell me you didn't skip Zoomerang, it's the only smooth boomerang in existence.


Well, not really lol, but they are hard to come by. It's funny though; I keep hearing that this is the best, but every time I ride it, it is just as uncomfortable as the next boomerang. I actually like the one at Morey's Piers better. Yes I did skip it, but I would skip even the best boomerang if I've already ridden it already. I've given up on thinking that Vekoma will ever make anything good besides Everest lol.


Strange. I actually found it to be very smooth and didn't experience any headbanging at all. I found it to be smoother than the B&M at SFNE which is a bit rough around the corkscrews.
Coasterkidmwm wrote:
gouldy wrote:
Just don't employ stupid people and you're golden.

That's like finding a Waffle House with no white trash in it.


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Yeah I found there to be headbanging. There wasn't as much as normal, but there was enough up and down jolting to give me as much of a headache. Sea Serpent at Morey's Piers gave me a smooth and comfortable(ish) ride. Maybe because it was overall less intense.

Edit: And no I find Zoomerang to be way rougher than B:TDK, but maybe I've just gotten a lot of bad rides (yes I sat in the most comfortable seats). But yeah I know that it is generally considered to be the best, so I know I'm weird to say this lol.
1.Boulder Dash | 2.Legend(HW) | 3.Beast | 4.Ravine Flyer II | 5.Intimdator 305 | 6.Phoenix | 7.Twisted Timbers | 8.Wicked Cyclone | 9.Thunderhead | 10.Storm Chaser

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I probably just had a great ride on it then lol. Nice to see someone else that has Boulder Dash as their number 1. I usually get a lot of hate in the coaster community for saying that BD is my favorite coaster.
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Still my #1, throws you around a lot like any good wooden coaster should.
All hail your great Arrow Dynamics overlords.

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devilsrule911 wrote:
Well, it's been 10 years, and I don't think it's that bad.


For some reason I thought it was like 2-3 years old. Whoops!
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La Ronde

Since I live 5 hours from Montreal, La Ronde is somewhat impossible to finish with a day trip. My sister and I planned a 2 day trip while staying the night in Montreal. We drove down and arrived at about 3, stayed until around closing. The next day, we went until 3 and drove home. The reason I really wanted to get out here was to ride Monstre in case it ever got RMCed.

The Canadian customs officer grilled us with questions. Maybe she was suspicious that anybody would be stupid enough to go to random amusement parks in Canada. Maybe Canada has upped its policies since people want to get out of the USA to get away from Drumpf. She was asking things like why we would be going in the rain. It was a lot easier on our way up to Canada's Wonderland.

It was quite easy getting into the park as all we had to do was follow one highway which we know how to get to from home and just follow the signs to La Ronde. There is a park right next to La Ronde which you have to take weird paths around to get to La Ronde, but as long as you follow the signs, there shouldn't be a problem. We got season passes since we will be going to other Six Flags parks later in the year(Great Adventure and St. Louis). This was my first time at a park with a different language, but they were good with translating if we needed, and all of the employees spoke English if we spoke English to them. I read online that Quebec has a language police that makes sure everything is in French and that they always greet customers in French.

The park was relatively empty when we got there. I did like this park. Yes it is a little run down, but you can tell they are working hard to make it better. They have new path work and fresh theming to liven it up a bit, which I can appreciate. It doesn't really feel like a Six flags park either. There is barely any mention of it being a Six Flags park. The go big go six flags thing is never mentioned (even in French) which was very good. We headed right to Monstre only to find it closed with no activity around it... Wonderful. We figured it would be open by the next day, so we moved on to Super Man??ge. This coaster has no signage indicating it's name, so I had to refer to my iPhone notes (couldn't access internet out of the country) to see what it was called.

(Insert Imaginary Photo)

This was my first time riding this layout, and I really didn't mind it too much. It has Arrow trains, which I don't know if that's a good or bad thing. (Edit: I don't know what I was talking about the train was awful. It had a headrest that jammed into my back. It was one of the worst things about the ride.) There was some airtime in places and the corkscrews were fine, but there was one nasty spot (forget what it was). But the rest of the coaster just meandered around doing nothing important before it ended. Still sucked and rattled around a bit, but far from the worst Vekoma.

Next was Boomerang (or Le Boomerang in French lol).

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Yeah this one was bad. Apparently it was one of the original 4, but so was the one at Morey's Peirs and that one was ok. This was actually the worst one I've done. The snaps at the top of the cobra rolls were brutal.

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We then headed to the front half of the park to ride Vampire, which was running backwards. The queue path for this was excessively long. There is an area where it meanders around some tall grass, which would be enough for any Batman clone, but then it goes into two giant sections of switchbacks before going up to a walk on coaster.

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I adore the Batman clone at Great Adventure, and I've heard this is the best, so naturally, I was excited. I was also nervous because I hate backwards coasters. There's something about the way your head gets thrown forward all the time that makes me just get annoyed by going backwards. And this is no exception. I honestly did not like this at all. I'm sure forward it would be great, but this was just not fun. Maybe if I come back, I will love it equally, but right now it's my second least favorite B&M.

Next was Cobra, the Intamin Stand-up.

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Honestly, I was expecting this to be bad because I generally dislike B&M Stand-ups and this is from before they broke off, so I figured I'd hate this. It wasn't great, but it was better than Apocolypse at Six Flags America. There was one bad kink though right here:

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that was pretty bad. It just wandered for most of the layout and didn't do much. It does have some floater air, which was good, but it was no SkyRider.

Next was *sigh* another B&M hyper, Goliath. With one train operation and VR.

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The line moved about a foot a minute, but we finally made it and chose not to do VR because I find the reality right in front of me to be sufficient. Since we can't choose seats, we got third to last row. I had ridden 4 of these things and only really liked Apollo's Chariot for following the terrain and giving good surprises and variation. The others I've ridden are Nitro, Behemoth and Leviathan. Nitro and Leviathan are ok, and Behemoth was lame. I just find them to be like sitting in a lounge chair with a strong fan, which might end up costing less. I wasn't expecting this to be much different than Behemoth. Wow was I wrong. This thing as near ejector air on every single hill. I would say it is a light ejector, which is way more than any other B&M. And this wasn't from the front or back. The airtime started from the beginning of the hills with a strong pop of floater (near the back mind you) and turns into near ejector. I was thoroughly impressed with this for having the best B&M airtime ever. The one thing it suffers from, as does Behemoth, is its repetitive nature. However, this has some good twists here and there to keep it interesting. I hadn't yet decided if I liked it better than Apollo's Chariot or Nitro because it is so repetitive. I rode it again the next day which is when I decided.

Next was the neighboring SLC, Edn??r - L'Attaque.

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The way the coasters surround the lake reminds me of Darien Lake.

The restraints were brutally high and made for terrible headbanging, which almost made me lose my glasses. If it weren't for that it was just bad and not the worst, but it certainly wasn't good.

We went to the wild mouse, Toboggan Nordique next. This is the same as the one at Rye Playland, which was awful, but this one never gained the obnoxious speed that that one did.

Finally we went to the indoor Intamin, Dragon. I was wondering if it would be the same as Skull Mountain at Great Adventure, but it was not. It was similar, but not the same.

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It was really well themed for a Six Flags coaster (maybe the best, but that's not saying much), but it is not as intense as Skull Mountain. It was definitely cool, though.

We did the S&S launch tower that was out over the lake and wow was it great. Loads of ejector air and just seeing the lake below you is awesome, and on the other side the view of Montreal was great. Really Really good, and maybe my favorite launch tower.

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Next was the Huss Breakdance (I think that's what it is?) and I've never done one of these before. It was loads of fun. Definitely worth checking out if you see one of these things.

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That was the end of our day, so we went to our hotel which was just on the opposite side of the water from Montreal, quite close to La Ronde. It's called the Hotel Le Dauphin (with an accent or two in there) and its in Longueuil, so I would recommend checking it out because I got it for $93 USD with crazy Quebec sales taxes and it was quite good for that price.

Day 2 started off with a huge queue to get into the park. We waited about 25 minutes to get in. We didn't get in until about 11:15. We went right to Monstre because it had to be open the next day right? They wouldn't be lazy like every other Six Flags park right...?

There were staff at Monstre at least and they told us it would open. Since this was our priority, and we had to be out by 2, we waited for a bit to see if there was activity, but there was no testing or anything. So apparently, the mechanics were off on Sunday? Six Flags can afford to have 4 additional staff members cleaning goggles all day, but they can't afford to have mechanics working. Not surprised...

So after waiting a while, we just went to Goliath again because we only got one ride the day before. We waited even longer this time even though they were running 2 trains. When we got to the top, we saw the back open and snuck on. Luckily the ride ops found 2 more pairs of 2s to match us up with the 2 in front of us didn't have to move.

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Wow! The back is really good! Great first drop. 2nd best 1st drop on a B&M besides Apollo's Chariot. It reaches ejector (barely though) on every hill and the airtime coming out of the turnaround beats the drop out of the MCBR for Nitro. I have to say that this is the best B&M Hyper I have ever been on. I appreciate the layouts of Nitro and Apollo's Chariot more, but this is just way more forceful and the smaller size makes it have good pacing as well, and I just can't ignore it. I can't believe it happened, but I thoroughly enjoyed a B&M hyper. This goes into my #24 spot below Talon and above Volcano.

While waiting for Monstre to open, we went over to the Launch tower again, when we saw Monstre testing and raced over. We ended up waiting until 2:35 for Monstre and it finally opened as we were about to leave (since we needed to drive 5-6 hours back so my sister could get to sleep.) We only got to ride back of the front car of the right side.

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It was pretty rough, but there was some good moments of airtime and the drops were weird in the best way. I do prefer the old Cyclone at Six Flags New England though. I just wish I could have ridden in the seats I wanted and ridden both sides. The line got too long to ride again. When I complained to Guest relations to try to squeeze an exit pass out of them (which usually works in the states), the guy did not budge, despite it being the park's fault that it took them 2 days to get their coaster running and I accommodated for Six Flags negligence by coming 2 days specifically for this coaster... Whatever... I'm used to it by now.

If it weren't for Monstre spite, I would have liked this park. The staff are very friendly (for the most part) and accommodating of our lack of French. I would recommend it if not for their terrible operations all around.

Thanks for reading. I probably won't get anywhere before my trip, so expect Dollywood to be next, or maybe Six Flags Great Adventure if I can get out there.

Edit: Fixed photo link for first Goliath photo
Last edited by devilsrule911 on July 13th, 2016, 12:44 am, edited 2 times in total.
1.Boulder Dash | 2.Legend(HW) | 3.Beast | 4.Ravine Flyer II | 5.Intimdator 305 | 6.Phoenix | 7.Twisted Timbers | 8.Wicked Cyclone | 9.Thunderhead | 10.Storm Chaser

Post July 12th, 2016, 10:21 pm
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How was Goliath's weird ass turnaround that looks like it was made in RCT?
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Just don't employ stupid people and you're golden.

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Post July 12th, 2016, 11:50 pm

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It was great. The banking transitions feel pretty snappy, and you really get jolted into the airtime coming out of it.
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Post July 23rd, 2016, 5:13 am

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^ I wonder if Intamin Standups were the big reason why an inclined loop was legit invented. Never mind "Mind Bender" that Six Flags regard its slanted element as one inversion.

My two cents here. ;)
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Post August 3rd, 2016, 8:14 pm

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I just got back from my huge trip that took me from New Jersey to Dollywood and up to Adventureland in Iowa. I had quite a lot of fun and only got seriously spited twice (and one was expected). This time around my mom came along and as always, my sister came. We went to the following parks in order.

Dollywood
Beech Bend Park
Kentucky Kingdom
Kings Island
Holiday World
Six Flags St. Louis
Silver Dollar City
Worlds of Fun
Adventureland (Iowa)

Day 1 we spent driving to Pigeon Forge where our first hotel was at. We stayed at the Park Grove Inn which was suitable. We stayed 2 nights so we could do Pigeon Forge stuff as well as Dollywood.

Dollywood

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All of these parks I have never been to, so everything is new for me. We arrived at 9:15 so we could get in line early. It was July 23rd, so it was a Sunday and the weather showed some thunderstorms at night. When we got in, we headed straight to Thunderhead since Lightning Rod was obviously closed. Our first impressions of the park were good, but the path up to Thunderhead from the entrance was a little odd, and didn't look as good as the rest of the park. And the theming didn't make sense either. It just seemed like random props.

At 10 we were able to get the first backseat ride on Thunderhead. They had been testing from 9:30 which was very impressive, and something I wish more parks would do.

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This coaster is great! It is so fast paced and actually quite forceful. The airtime is definitely good, and better than any other GCI I'd been on, but what stands out in terms of force is the laterals. They are better than any other GCI I'd been on at that time. The pacing is really what brings this coaster to the next level is the pacing that is up there with rides like Ravine Flyer II. The forces are definitely not as good as other coasters like Ravine Flyer II and Boulder Dash, but they are definitely good. This was easily a Top 10 ride, one of the best I had ridden.

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Next we started our way around the park to Mystery Mine, which hadn't opened yet, but there was a line waiting outside the queue.

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The station was themed pretty well, which was nice to see. The ride itself was also themed well, and definitely added to the ride experience. However, the actual coaster itself was quite jerky as I'd heard about Euro Fighters. I was still able to enjoy it though and I liked it better than the knock-off Euro Fighters I rode at Knoebels and Coney Island.

Then we headed over to Tennessee Tornado, because somewhere I heard this was low capacity. That was clearly wrong as we practically walked right on (Sorry no pictures for this one). This is definitely one of the better Arrows, but it is rather uninteresting and caused me to grey pretty badly without giving a chance to recover. The drop was really great though and the inversions were quite large.

The next coaster to ride was Wild Eagle which was my first ever wing coaster.

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It wasn't very good. I do not like these vest restraints, since they squeezed me pretty bad and the rattle was awful. Take that away and there's just a boring ride. There were zero points where I found this coaster interesting.

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We headed to FireChaser Express afterwards and it had a really long line. A lot of the theming around the queue was interesting. We had about a 45 minute wait, which was one of only 2 bad waits we had.

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It was quite fun. We rode in the front and there were a few fun moments and the theming was definitely great for kids. Very well done ride by Gerstlauer.

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The last coaster was the indoor coaster, [u]Blazing Fury[/b] which really reminded me of the Black Diamond at Knoebels. And both were very meh.

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That was the end of the must do credits. It was time to do other rides around the park and it was only 12:30. The side of the park without coasters is really nice and secluded. I like the way they have all of the shops there and they have the eagle enclosure. This park has a really nice feel. We headed down to the rapids ride, Smoky Mountain River Rampage. It was a really quality rapids. The waterfall at the end was the first water effect I have ever appreciated and I don't know why, it was just really funny. Normally I only like for the rapids to get me wet, but they did well too.

We also did the S&S Screamin' Swing. It was nice to see both sides running on one of these for a change. This one isn't quite as good as the one at Lake Compounce though.

Next up was the water slide bobsled thing, Mountain Sidewinder. This is a MUST do when you go to Dollywood. This thing is just insane. Better than any bobsled coaster ever. I could have sworn the boat was going to tip.

The last new ride was the log flume, Daredevil Falls, and this thing is awesome.

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I just wish there was more meandering after the lifthill. I love the way that drop looks though.

After that we got a few re-rides on Thunderhead, which was once again great! It got quite rough, but this thing was really going! It just feels out of control! This made it into my 5th overall spot. I prefer the back because the pacing is better, but the front has stronger airtime.

We took a ride on the train which was nice, but they only run it on the hour which is kind of annoying. It was cool getting views of the park though.

Finally, we rode the kiddie coaster, Sideshow Spin

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The cars are cool on this one.

We decided to head out since the giant storm cloud we saw in the distance would surely close every ride. We had a great day here! The park is really nice and has a very nice southern feel. The coasters weren't overly great aside from thunderhead, but they have a lot of great other rides that make up for it, and the feel of this park really makes it!

On day 3, we did a few things in Pigeon Forge and the zoo in Knoxville, but we also rode the Smoky Mountain Alpine Coaster, which was my first alpine coaster.

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It was quite fun. The laterals were cool, but there were tons of brakes along it. I never got to a point where I was close to tempted to hit the brake.

I'll leave you with some pictures of Lightning Rod to make everybody depressed...

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Edit: Forgot to post my top 20:

1. Boulder Dash
2. Ravine Flyer II
3. Phoenix
4. Wicked Cyclone
5. Thunderhead
6. Maverick
7. Phantom's Revenge
8. Skyrush
9. Bizarro (Superman the Ride)
10. El Toro
11. Manta (SWO)
12. Ride of Steel
13. Intrimidator 305
14. Kumba (BGT)
15. Batman The Ride
16. Superman - Ride of Steel
17. Storm Runner
18. Alpengeist
19. Coney Island Cyclone
20. Montu

Bold = Newly added
1.Boulder Dash | 2.Legend(HW) | 3.Beast | 4.Ravine Flyer II | 5.Intimdator 305 | 6.Phoenix | 7.Twisted Timbers | 8.Wicked Cyclone | 9.Thunderhead | 10.Storm Chaser

Post August 4th, 2016, 9:24 pm

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Location: New Jersey, USA
Beech Bend Park

We got our hotel in Cookeville, Tennessee. Our next day (Day 4) included Beech Bend Park and Kentucky Kingdom with an attempt to ride every roller coaster in Kentucky in a day. It was a 2 hour drive to Beech Bend and another hour 30 to Kentucky Kingdom. We showed up early for the 10:30 opening to Beech Bend so that we could get in and out. With Kentucky Kingdom being back an hour, closing early, and the weather not looking good, it had to be quick. The drive up was interesting as we went down side roads through Tennessee and Kentucky where we saw the hickiest of hicks I have ever see. The park was in an area that was relatively built up. The park is basically like any small park I've been to with nothing special. They did offer free sunscreen though.

Obviously, the big draw to this park was Kentucky Rumbler, so we headed there first. We did front row first and as soon as they got the area around the coaster cleared, we got on the first front seat ride of the day, but we had to wait 15 minutes in our seats so that they could figure out that the fat guy behind us couldn't fit... That has to be a record for the worst dispatch time ever...

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This is a really great coaster!! It has stronger airtime and stronger laterals than any GCI I'd ridden. Sadly, it doesn't quite have the insane pacing of Thunderhead, but it is certainly fast paced and it has slightly stronger forces. The layout is really cool and it's just loads of fun. There is a pretty rough spot on the coaster, but I really didn't have a problem with it. It just squeezed its way in to my top 10 above El Toro, but I'm sure it would be much more solid later in the day, but I had to get to Kentucky Kingdom.

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We then headed over for their new for 2016 roller coaster, Spinning Out, which is just a 3 loop SBF Compact Spinner. It was fine.

Next was the other spinning coaster (I would be interested to know what other parks have 2 spinning coasters. I can't imagine there are many), Wild Mouse, which was another mediocre Zamperla Spinning mouse.

Back to the important stuff... We rode Kentucky Rumbler one more time in the back (my mom waited this one out). I do prefer it in the front, but wow that drop is unbelievable in the back! Really great stuff.

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That may or may not be me in the back seat. And I may or may not have had my hands down because that's the rough spot.

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But I put them back up as soon as it was over lol

We got out by 11:30 so we could get to Kentucky Kingdom where we lost an hour to time zones. Stay tuned for that report soon.

Updated Top 20:

1. Boulder Dash
2. Ravine Flyer II
3. Phoenix
4. Wicked Cyclone
5. Thunderhead
6. Maverick
7. Phantom's Revenge
8. Skyrush
9. Bizarro (Superman the Ride)
10. Kentucky Rumbler
11. El Toro (GAdv)
12. Manta (SWO)
13. Ride of Steel
14. Intrimidator 305
15. Kumba (BGT)
16. Batman The Ride
17. Superman - Ride of Steel
18. Storm Runner
19. Alpengeist
20. Coney Island Cyclone
1.Boulder Dash | 2.Legend(HW) | 3.Beast | 4.Ravine Flyer II | 5.Intimdator 305 | 6.Phoenix | 7.Twisted Timbers | 8.Wicked Cyclone | 9.Thunderhead | 10.Storm Chaser


Posts: 1240
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Location: New Jersey, USA
Kentucky Kingdom

We arrived at Kentucky Kingdom at around 2:15. We were in a rush since there was a storm coming (Fitting since almost every coaster is named after storms). This park seems kind of like a Six Flags park, but not as much as Darien Lake did. This felt more like it's own thing. You could tell they reused the poles of the six flags from back when it was owned by Six Flags.

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Our first ride at this park was Lightning Run

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We rode back seat and it was really really great! Great first drop as well as good airtime, but what was really exceptional was the pacing on this. As soon as you would hit airtime, you would be into the turn with laterals, and there was not a point where it was uncomfortable. It was a really good ride. Sure it's not quite as good as something like Wicked Cyclone or Maverick, but it is a really great steel coaster that certainly competes with them.

Next we headed across the park to wait in line for Storm Chaser, but as soon as we got close, we got the announcement that all rides would be closing due to weather... We figured we could wait in the station until it passed, but the operators kicked us out. We looked at the radar, and we realized it did not look good. What was great was that guest relations offers a rainy day ticket to out of state guests. We waited for over 2 hours until we were about to give up and find a way to stop back on our way to Holiday World in 2 days. It sucked because this would have been the third time I was spited by an RMC (Wicked Cyclone broke down when I went the first time, and of course Lightning Rod...), but right as I was about to give up, we saw Lightning Run testing again, and sprinted across the park to Storm Chaser

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We literally had this RMC to ourselves. No people in sight! We rode front first. Wow! This was fantastic!! I was not expecting this to compare with Wicked Cyclone, but it did. The first drop is quite fun and airtime is ridiculous on every hill. The last few hills are at such a ridiculous pace! The one thing this doesn't have that Wicked Cyclone has is good inversions. The inversions are kind of uneventful. On Wicked Cyclone they slammed you into hangtime. This you just kind of slide through them. The two hills after the over-banked turn inversion had great lateral forces along with the airtime to make it quite eventful. And no it was not going the speed it was in the initial video. In the back, the first drop is even better. The hangtime is exactly the same, but it whips you around the twist way better. And everything else pretty much rode the same. People started showing up, so we headed out.

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Our next stop was the Dinn Coaster in the park [u]Thunder Run[/b].

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The key to riding Dinn's is to ride in the front, so we all waited for the front and went on separate trains. This one is really good! And I don't think anybody can really have an argument to say it's rough (I remember hearing that RMC had retracked it with traditional track, but I'm not sure if it was them). There is great airtime and the airtime hill with the quick turn at the end of it is great (I call those Boulder Dash hills even if they were built first lol). There were slow parts, and it's not overly special, but it is a good fun coaster.

Next was the highlight of the trip, T3. I'm kidding it sucked. The new restraints stop head banging, but they squeeze your legs. And it isn't any less brutally rough.

Finally, we rode the Vekoma family coaster, Roller Skater, which was smoother than their suspended family coaster.

We got one more ride in the back of Storm Chaser and got a front row ride on Lightning Run. Lightning run is definitely a back seat ride. There was a weird jolt in the front and it didn't have nearly as much energy.

Finally, we got a ride on the drop tower, which had really great ejector air. It felt like it was going forever until we were about to hit the brakes and I realized how close to ground we were. The brakes at the bottom hit so hard!! lol. It definitely was worth it, but my neck was not happy lol. I would definitely recommend it.

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I took this picture as a pano lol. Not sure how good it looks.

The park was near closing, so we headed out. It was a close call, but we got everything done and more by the time the storm passed. Lightning Run and Storm Chaser are great coasters! This combo is comparable to Six Flags New England with Wicked Cyclone and Superman and I can't decide which has a better combo of coasters. I do have to say though that Storm Chaser is the best ride in the park. It just has a little more energy.

I really liked this park! The operations were iffy with only running one train on everything, but it never became an issue. I really appreciate their out of state policy. It's the kind of thing I wish parks like La Ronde would do. This kind of policy encourages tourism, even if they are not a tourist park. When we were at La Ronde from New Jersey, they wouldn't give us a simple exit pass for Monstre being closed for 2 days in a row. It would make me think that the park is not worth a long trip for. We gave our tickets back in to thank the park for giving us that option, but the tickets gave us a good piece of mind that we could come back if we had the chance.

Ok Top 20 changed a bit lol:

1. Boulder Dash
2. Ravine Flyer II
3. Phoenix
4. Wicked Cyclone
5. Storm Chaser
6. Thunderhead
7. Maverick
8. Phantom's Revenge
9. Lightning Run
10. Skyrush
11. Bizarro (Superman the Ride)
12. Kentucky Rumbler
13. El Toro (GAdv)
14. Manta (SWO)
15. Ride of Steel
16. Intrimidator 305
17. Kumba (BGT)
18. Batman The Ride
19. Superman - Ride of Steel
20. Storm Runner
Last edited by devilsrule911 on August 6th, 2016, 7:50 pm, edited 1 time in total.
1.Boulder Dash | 2.Legend(HW) | 3.Beast | 4.Ravine Flyer II | 5.Intimdator 305 | 6.Phoenix | 7.Twisted Timbers | 8.Wicked Cyclone | 9.Thunderhead | 10.Storm Chaser

slosprint User avatar
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Are you literally following us around? We were at KK then, and we saw those same 2 people in Thunder Run. Also SC > WC, and idk what Ravime Flyer is doing at #2.
Boulder Dash was the only good roller coaster.

"or if you're when the hydraulic fluid was dumped out of the motor is goes 200ft up the tower and is like "LOL nope"" - CKMWM 2016


Posts: 1240
Points on hand: 6,869.00 Points
Location: New Jersey, USA
slosprint wrote:
Are you literally following us around?We were at KK then, and we saw those same 2 people in Thunder Run.

Lol nah I planned this way before I knew about the CC trip otherwise I would have gone. And I went on the July 25th. I thought you guys were doing the trip in August? And which 2 people are you talking about?
Also SC > WC,

I don't know, I just found SC to be quite short and the inversions didn't work nearly as well for me (still an amazing ride though).
and idk what Ravime Flyer is doing at #2.

Well I've heard it really can vary how well it will run and I've heard that it is not running as well this year. But when I rode it 2 years ago, it was hauling through the first half of the layout and really was about as good as any moment on Boulder Dash. The second half was not as good, but it was still really quite fun.
1.Boulder Dash | 2.Legend(HW) | 3.Beast | 4.Ravine Flyer II | 5.Intimdator 305 | 6.Phoenix | 7.Twisted Timbers | 8.Wicked Cyclone | 9.Thunderhead | 10.Storm Chaser


Posts: 1240
Points on hand: 6,869.00 Points
Location: New Jersey, USA
Before I start my Kings Island report, I'll mention that I got my hotel at the Crowne Plaza in Louisville and this was my view:

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Kings Island

As a prelude, I really did not like Canada's Wonderland since I had to run around riding a bunch of terrible coasters (and the one that I liked got moved to Italy that year) and I generally get frustrated by Cedar Fair policies, so I was not excited for this park since it is really quite large with a lot of rides. I was excited to see what in the world could make Beast at all popular, and I was excited that I was getting my 200th coaster AND 50th wooden coaster. I of course had to give Beast both honors since it is quite an iconic ride. I was at 197 and 49 at the start, so I had to ride 2 steel coasters before I went to The Beast.

We entered the park that looked just like Kings Dominion and Canada's Wonderland at the entrance lol, but somehow I felt this just had a better vibe.

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It was rather early as we wanted to get a head start on all of the rides. The park had soft opened so we waited at the direction towards the left side of the park. As it opened we headed to the first coaster of the day, Banshee.

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And yeah, this is what I've come to expect from popular B&Ms. Slow paced and rattly. It is an extremely uneventful ride. For the most part it just felt it was slowly altering the amount it pushed you into your seat. The only exception to that was the inline twist and the zero-g roll, which were uneventful and slow anyway. It was just ok, but it was also extremely rattly. Sorry, but this is my least favorite B&M invert by a long shot. Oh yea and the restraints suck

Next, we popped over to Invertigo, my first medium-sized Inverted Vekoma Boomerang (because why would I want to go back to Dorney?)
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It wasn't bad, and it was cool to do a boomerang facing the other way, but the layout is still very uninteresting.

Finally, it was time to ride my 200th coaster and my 50th wooden coaster. We walked all the way across the park to get to The Beast.

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Well, I'm sure a lot of people already know what I think of this. I'm not going to talk about this in chronological order, so that I can fully discuss why I love this coaster so much. It was something I didn't expect since on videos, this just looks like a train ride through the forest. Long ramps and slow turns, what does this coaster have that can make it so great? Well for starters, the turns are a lot more forceful than I expected. The first section of the ride (before the infamous straight sections) is really quite fun and would be good on any coaster. You hit the first turn with a good amount of laterals and the tunnel and crossovers add to the general quality. But this is just decent and not the makings of a top 10 coaster. Obviously, everybody knows how great it is to travel through the woods on this coaster, and you're right, without a good ride it's a stupid gimmick. The long straightaway before the trim gives a great sensation of speed through the forest and with the roof over your head, it's pulled off to perfection. Again though, this is nothing without a great ride, so the ride decides to slam on the brakes and you start slowly going through the next turn :lol: . The next turn is a tunnel and it has relatively minimal laterals, but you notice yourself speeding up as the tunnel seems to never end. From then on, the coaster is slowly accelerating until the turns start having pretty heavy laterals. And these laterals are delivered perfectly. Nice and snappy and very powerful. I often complain about Twister at Knoebels for just not pulling laterals off right. This coaster just does it right. What makes this great is the constant feeling of speeding up and more and more forceful turns with the combination of traveling through the forest. This kind of deliberate rampyness and and constant turning wouldn't work in any other setting, and something besides that wouldn't work as well with a foresty environment (as much as I love Boulder Dash, the trees do not help it out. Boulder Dash would be the best if it were in an open field). Honestly, the way the coaster is and the setting just work in perfect harmony to make this a really fun ride. And honestly, I'm a sucker for good sustained laterals. Plus the acceleration really creates a sensation that the ride is fast paced even though, relatively it is not. But the best part of the ride comes next with the giant out-of-control helix. I just love the way it slowly and slowly and slowly banks into a dark tunnel before being slammed into some crazy (and once again, perfect) laterals. The helix just goes on for ever and the laterals come back when you go into the tunnel. It sets the perfect finale for a fantastic coaster.

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I just want everyone to know that I have no bias towards this at all. I was expecting to come out saying meh, even with me loving wooden coasters, so me loving it came as a surprise. Plus it breaks everything I believe in with a coaster needing good pacing to be great. I had a hard time ranking this coaster since it is completely different than everything else I've ridden, and since if it were in a giant field, I would simply be saying it was quite a fun ride. After days of thinking it over, I decided to put it at what was currently my #3 spot. Really really fun, and my mother and sister loved it too. My mom was able to ride it a lot since there was no airtime to make her sick.

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Next up we went to the most popular coaster in the park, Diamondback.

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Want my review? See my Behemoth review and just imagine that it can get worse... Ok fine I'll give a real review...

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Rattle Rattle Rattle... Long extended hill... Airtime for a split second.... Rattle Rattle Rattle. Well clearly I see that Goliath at La Ronde is an exception to the rule. B&M hypers suck, as a general rule. Honestly, I didn't think it could get any worse than Behemoth. The rattle is EVEN WORSE on this thing... Like actually brutal. I could not come close to enjoying it. I mean, even if it was smooth, I can't imagine this being enjoyable anyway. There was barely any airtime on this coaster and the trims made the rest of the ride crawl. The one thing that was good was the water splash since I rode in the very back seat and I put my hands back, but other than that, this has nothing going for it at all. Honestly, I think there is something wrong with the support placement because the bottom of the drop is just excruciating and you can hear it offride. Before anybody tells me I rode in the wrong seat, I have to say that I don't care enough to try another seat. I just don't like B&M hypers. I will say that this is the first B&M hyper I will label as just bad. Normally I get something out of it, but this time I can't say that (except the water splash lol).

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Oh yeah, and it's really easy to take pictures of. I have a few more in my Kings Island album on Flickr if you want to check it out.

Next up was the Arrow custom looper, Vortex

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Ouch. This one hurts a ton. It's actually probably the worst I've done. At every point it was trying to kick our asses.

The weather was looking a little shaky so we headed over towards Flight of Fear, but since it hadn't started to get bad yet, we went to Firehawk, which was right nearby.

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I didn't like it's clone at Six Flags America, but this one was a little better. Maybe because I braced. Still, these things have really uncomfortable seats and they are not very smooth.

Initially, Racer wasn't running both sides, but they got the other up and running with both trains, so we headed over.

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Yea that's the only picture I got so you can also see the swings that fat people made fall down jk. This was fine. Just like Rebel Yell it was rather forgettable, but this was racing and the racing aspect is always cool, especially when you can get both trains into it.

Our final coaster before the rain hit was Backlot Stunt Coaster. I was glad we were able to do this as we ran out of time at Canada's Wonderland. I had already ridden it at Kings Dominion though, and it's pretty fun. Definitely some good moments.

It was starting to pour so he we headed inside to Flight of Fear, where the line was pouring out of the queue(but the entire queue wasn't filled inside). It was the longest wait of the day, but we were able to stay occupied through the rain, which was fine by us, and it was only around 2:00.

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I really liked the one at Kings Dominion, but this one seemed a lot rougher. Maybe I'm not remembering it correctly, but can anyone else confirm that this is significantly rougher? It was still pretty fun, but I remember enjoying the one at Kings Dominion significantly more.

When we got out, the rain had stopped, so we headed over to the mine train, Adventure Express.

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This was actually really really great! I was just expecting another Arrow mine train, but this one has such great energy and the laterals are really great. The way it slowly slides down the hillside is great! It is definitely one of the best Arrow's out there, and my second favorite coaster in the park (not a big accomplishment)! I think I may have heard somewhere that this was designed by Alan Shilke? Can anyone confirm that?

Next we headed to some remote land outside of the known world until we stumbled upon an Arrow suspended coaster. No but seriously this coaster is in the middle of nowhere and the queue is confusing as all hell. Luckily we were able to get in line for Bat.

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Somebody was bleeding, so they had to run a train through before we could go on, but otherwise, there was barely a wait. I made sure not to ride it in the back like I did on its clone in Canada's Wonderland. It was better that way, but it was still quite rough. I noticed the swinging a little bit more on this one which was nice. Definitely had some fun this time.

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With 2 more coasters left, we headed to the kiddie section to ride Woodstock Express.

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which was somewhere back there, behind the snow cones.

It was fun! Nice for the cherubs

Next was a Vekoma, Flying ACE Ariel Chase

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We actually rode it later since it was broken down for a bit, but I might as well get all of the coasters out of the way. This was better than the other SFCs, but at the end it started to awkwardly jerk like the others. It's never painful, but I think it's amazing how rough these can get despite their size (again, it's so small that I can obviously bare it, I'm just surprised)

So next we did the rest of the rides in the park starting with the Windseeker, which was cool. It was my first one and it was pretty quality. And I didn't get stuck at the top so that's a plus.

Then we went across the park to Delerium which was fun. At least I didn't get screwed over like I got at Kennywood where I didn't get to the top the entire ride...

Next was the drop tower and asdfghjkl that thing is amazing!! Best drop tower ever!!

Since we had ridden most everything, we went back on Adventure Express on our way back to Beast. We got another ride on Beast, and we saw the train was nearby, so we hopped on that. On the train, we got great pictures of Diamondback (see above) and saw the rapids and said "We must ride that!!!"

Which brings me to my rant on Mystic Timbers... We got on the rapids, which was great because it was so secluded and separate from the park. It felt like a real river with real rapids, which was awesome. Plus there were a few waves that came down really hard on the boat. Really a first class rapids ride... and they're sticking a coaster over it... As much as I think a GCI would benefit the park (it's pretty short on high quality coasters), this rapids is a gem, and this coaster will remove much of what I loved about it. It's too bad... But this was the best rapids I had ridden at the time.

A few more rides here and there and it started to get dark. We got on a dusk ride and a night ride on Beast and it was great!! Really makes the ride interesting, but I don't think it drastically improves the ride like others do. Odd since I love it so much. I mean it's really cool and worth it, and it is definitely at it's fastest, but it's not a huge change.

It was a long day, but it was very very successful. We got on basically everything at this park with re-rides on what we wanted. I actually had a great time, and despite the coasters not being great, I thought that there was a lot of flats and whatnot to really fill this park out. I kind of wish I got to do everything at Canada's Wonderland then too. However, I think that this might just be my favorite Cedar Fair park, with Kings Dominion at an uncomfortably close second. I think this really just has the best feel with the way it interacts with the trees.

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He couldn't see his shadow because he was in the shadow of The Beast!

Ok new Top 20:
1. Boulder Dash
2. Ravine Flyer II
3. Beast
4. Phoenix
5. Wicked Cyclone
6. Storm Chaser
7. Thunderhead
8. Maverick
9. Phantom's Revenge
10. Lightning Run
11. Skyrush
12. Bizarro (Superman the Ride)
13. Kentucky Rumbler
14. El Toro (GAdv)
15. Manta (SWO)
16. Ride of Steel
17. Intrimidator 305
18. Kumba (BGT)
19. Batman The Ride
20. Superman - Ride of Steel

Bold = New

Next up is Holiday World, where you can expect some hardcore spite.
1.Boulder Dash | 2.Legend(HW) | 3.Beast | 4.Ravine Flyer II | 5.Intimdator 305 | 6.Phoenix | 7.Twisted Timbers | 8.Wicked Cyclone | 9.Thunderhead | 10.Storm Chaser


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^ No one wants to think that the Beast is RMCed. That should stay as it is. We already got used to its good tradition.
-- I was happy to be with NL1 - [:')] --

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Thanks for continuously posting the pictures and your reviews. Are the B&M's really that rattley? I continually find this hard to believe.
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Post August 8th, 2016, 10:01 am

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Thanks so much for reading guys!!

Coasterkidmwm wrote:
Thanks for continuously posting the pictures and your reviews. Are the B&M's really that rattley? I continually find this hard to believe.


Diamondback was awful. Banshee felt more like it shuttered, so it was relatively bearable. I've gotten a worse experience with Batman in the front row. I can't imagine it was the wrong seat though because I consistently find inverts to be the most smooth in the back row. It doesn't matter because it was lame anyway lol
1.Boulder Dash | 2.Legend(HW) | 3.Beast | 4.Ravine Flyer II | 5.Intimdator 305 | 6.Phoenix | 7.Twisted Timbers | 8.Wicked Cyclone | 9.Thunderhead | 10.Storm Chaser

Post August 11th, 2016, 12:39 pm

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After spending 12 hours at Kings Island, we got a hotel closer to Kings Island in Sparta, Kentucky (about an hour away). It was the Ramada, and it was sufficient. It was definitely in the middle of nowhere (the people were telling us how they pulled tobacco), but it was fine. I would tell you to find somewhere else though, if you can (it is the only hotel for a while).

I forgot to mention that we also rode Boo Blasters, and the shooting system doesn't work well, but it was ok.

Holiday World

Next day was Holiday World, which required us to go into the Central timezone again. The park is right next to the timezone change, though. We arrived at 10:00 right as the park opened.

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I've heard nothing but good things about Holiday World, so I had very high expectations going in. Also, as a massive fan of wooden coasters, this WAS the park to go to; 3 beloved wooden coasters in one park is basically coaster heaven. However, when I get there and only 1 out of the 3 wooden coasters is open... I'm not sure I got off to the right start with this park.

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Since Voyage was probably going to get a line, we headed to that first.

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If you've been following, you'll know that the mid-course now trims this ride rather significantly, so I clearly came off wishing I had ridden this before it got nerfed. The first ride I got on this, it was just pretty good. Honestly, I preferred El Toro at this point, which is saying a lot. However, later in the day, this turned into quite a crazy ride. The airtime is pretty good, but what stands out is the constant pestering of odd laterals at points. The second half definitely picked up later in the day, but it never really reached the point of crazy that would plant it at the very top. I was rather disappointed, but it was a really quality ride by the end of the day. I was just hoping for competition with Boulder Dash, and I got nothing of the sort. It did break my top 10 with relative ease.

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I don't even know why I took this picture...

Next we headed up to Thunderbird... but that had just closed... After hauling our way over to Thunderbird, we trekked all the way across the park again towards Legend only to find it closed. Then we went to Raven to find it closed. We asked the employees at both and they said that they would open, so we felt ok. But... we had to waste time, and our first ride on Voyage wasn't good enough to make us want to go back, so we just waited in the hour line for the log flume. And the handrails are so close together that you can barely breathe in the queue. It was so unbelievably terrible and crowded. The log flume was not very memorable.

So after that long wait in the log flume line, we headed over to see if Raven or Legend had opened, and nope. Legend was testing though, so we stood outside the queue for about a half hour before it finally opened and got the first front row ride of the day.

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Holy **** this thing is out of control!!! The laterals on this thing are beyond anything I have ever experienced and they are all delivered perfectly! It starts off with a light amount of laterals through the first few turns, but as you hit the first turnaround, they get a little stronger. Two good airtime hills and the lateral craziness begins. 2 crazy turns and then the helix... Oh I heard about this but wow. On the right side, you only have the divider, and you reach a point where the banking is non-existent, and couldn't help but hold on. That usually only happens when something is rough or bad, not from just being so intense. It follows with GCI turns, and I am happy to say that the laterals and airtime are in full tilt. Obviously, the snaps are gone, which I wish I could have ridden, but this final section still delivers. The laterals are crazy and the airtime is pretty good and it all comes at a great pace. I can happily say that I finally found the perfect coaster for my #2 spot. Just amazing.

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Once again, I'm going to complain about Twister at Knoebels, which I find can be pretty overrated by some people. To me the laterals are just not delivered right on that ride. Legend is an example where I feel that the laterals are perfect and help provide a fast pace. Twister's laterals are intense, but to me they don't change and adjust through turns enough to make the ride feel out of control and fast paced. Don't get me wrong, I really like it, I just never found it to be as good or underrated as some people like to think.

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At this point, we headed back over to Thunderbird. At this point the temperature had reached 86 degrees Fahrenheit, but the heat index was 109. The path to Thunderbird is uphill, and it has no shade aside from a single tent, and there is nothing on the way. I drank plenty of liquid ahead of time, but I felt myself going and had to call it quits halfway up. My mom went to grab me water. Thankfully, I can tell when heat exhaustion is coming unlike some other people at amusement parks, so I caught it before it was actually a problem. I headed up with the water, and we got in line for Thunderbird, when we heard the announcement that a thunderstorm (with lightning) had come into our area, and all rides would be closed. As opposed to a thunderstorm without lightning... It was fine though because I was able to get into air conditioning rather than wait in the sun. We headed over to their shooter ride, Gobbler Getaway. That's where we found an old lady pointing a gun at everybody...

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As always with these systems, it is damn near impossible to hit the target. And yeah it was just kind of odd. Plus you're not actually shooting things, you are saving turkeys...

So once again, we waited for the storm to pass and once again, it took ages, but the coasters finally opened again, but guess what didn't open... all day. Yep Raven... I didn't see them working on it after it rained at all.

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Spite hurts... For the third time we went up the path of death to Thunderbird.

I actually really enjoyed this one. There were some cool forces and it didn't rattle much. I loved the interaction with the hut too. This actually is one of the better B&Ms. Since we didn't want to come back up, we rode it a second time and left that area for good.

We hit the rapids next which was pretty good. We got just wet enough.

By the end we got 4 rides each on Legend at Voyage, which is honestly the best combo of coasters ever, and left the park. Overall, I liked the park despite it having some serious problems with keeping its rides open. The coaster lineup is great even without Raven, and the operations were pretty good. They also offered rainy day tickets to anybody who left early which is really great. The biggest problem is the path up to Thunderbird which needs shade really badly. It is a serious health hazard that the path is not covered or something. I just want to be able to go on a better day when its not blazing hot with thunderstorms and almost every ride is closed.

We went to the Comfort Suites in Mt. Vernon Illinois and it was quite satisfactory. The next day was Six Flags St. Louis. Thanks again for reading!

Edit: Yeah forgot to update top 20 again. I'm making it 25 from now on since there is so much good stuff

1. Boulder Dash
2. Legend (HW)
3. Ravine Flyer II
4. Beast
5. Phoenix
6. Wicked Cyclone
7. Voyage
8. Storm Chaser
9. Thunderhead
10. Maverick
11. Phantom's Revenge
12. Lightning Run
13. Skyrush
14. Bizarro (Superman the Ride)
15. Kentucky Rumbler
16. El Toro (GAdv)
17. Manta (SWO)
18. Ride of Steel
19. Intrimidator 305
20. Kumba (BGT)
21. Batman the Ride
22. Superman - Ride of Steel
23. Storm Runner
24. Alpengeist
25. Coney Island Cyclone

Bold = New
1.Boulder Dash | 2.Legend(HW) | 3.Beast | 4.Ravine Flyer II | 5.Intimdator 305 | 6.Phoenix | 7.Twisted Timbers | 8.Wicked Cyclone | 9.Thunderhead | 10.Storm Chaser

mkingy User avatar
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Cool trip report! Sucks that you didn't get to ride Raven but it's interesting to read your points about delivering laterals correctly!
Coaster Count - 198
France 2019 Mini Trip Report

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