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Rustbucket

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Everything posted by Rustbucket

  1. I am not sure I will go and collect these patches. I may collect those for my top 5 steel and wooden coasters if they are available. That is about it. Many coasters I have ridden are no longer around.
  2. I guess Darien Lake is back with Six Flags. Another interesting note was that SFFT is now open all year...
  3. It looks very good. Like someone said, this one looks somewhat like Maverick. I was wondering if this was going to be like Time Traveler. I guess not quite a spinning coaster. Frankly, Carowinds really needs this. Fury 325 is a great coaster. Afterburn is a good invert and Intimidator is a good hyper. Other than that, there is nothing else that really stands out. The construction is well under way. Then again, Carowinds is a worth a trip just to ride Fury 325. Keep in mind that there is no ERT until Memorial Day at Carowinds. They do not have any more ERT rest of this year either. Carowinds open late March every year.
  4. For me, KI actually have 4 top coaster collections that are second to none. I will put Magnum and Maverick as the only ones rival the top 4 at KI. MF, Valrayvn, GateKeeper, Roogaroo, Wicked Twister as decent to ok rides. TTD is thrilling when riding for the first time. I guess I have ridden it too many times. Mystic Timbers was just added last year. Did anyone really expected a new coaster without having any significant construction going on in the park? Really? Antique Car is a great attraction. I really wished they bring back THE Flying Eagle from Carowinds since the ride was removed.
  5. Looks like this attraction is coming along nicely.
  6. As usual, we headed to Carowinds to ride Fury 325. We ran into Phil, Kim, and Paul who used to frequent KI. It was busier than last few weeks but still got 6 rides on Fury in 60 minutes. We rode it 15 times last week in 60 minutes. It is obvious that the crowd on Sunday morning is much lighter than other major CF parks. I also love that they allow re-rides here. We walked over to WindSeeker and saw the construction of the next year's attraction. The rumor is still double launch coaster. The area is not very large but some support structures were built already. I am sure they will announce it soon. As usual, Afterburn was a walk on. Intimidator was only 5 minutes wait. It was nice to see old coaster friends from KI. We are planning to go to KI and CP later this year.
  7. There is a multi-launch coaster at KI already: Stunt Coaster. I really doubt they will put another at KI.
  8. They were at Carowinds last month. Even though I do not care for basketball, they were really entertaining. They were doing interactive shows. Well worth checking out.
  9. Last time we were there, we did both SDC and WoF on the same day. There are 4 coasters that are left side of the park and very close to each other: Wild Fire, Powder Keg, Outlaw Run, and Fire in the Hole. Outlaw Run is outstanding and do not miss Powder Keg. This is a unique launch and lift hill coaster. Wild Fire is my favorite B&M looper. You will get wet on Fire in the Hole unlike Blazing Fury. Thunderation is one of the better mine ride. Of course, Time Traveler is new for this year. For food, you cannot go wrong with House of BBQ. Their foods are on par with Dollywood. Overall, SDC is one of the most beautiful parks I have ever visited. I have been to WoF 3 times. Not a single time i spent more than 3 hours at the park. I rode all the coasters there multiple times including Prowler and Mamba. Maybe I got lucky all those times. Anyway, go to Prowler then Mamba. They are pretty close to each other. Only other coaster that is decent is Patriot. If you are in KC, go to Q39 for the best brisket. It is amazing.
  10. There is a definite rumor for a multi-launch coaster at Carowinds. People are talking about this all around the park. They are making some preparation already. I have no idea what it will be but I do want to see a nice GCI type of coaster at Carowind.
  11. My daughter's graduation from Wright State University is on 4/28/2018 so that my family is back in town. My son and I decided to visit Kings Island on 4/27/2018. We got to the park around 6 pm. It was not very busy but had some crowds around. We went straight to Mystic Timbers. Mystic Timbers: I forgot how smooth this coaster was compared to Thunderhead. MT is a superb GCI coaster. As usual, we got on the back of the train. Many of the ride operators recognized us and gave us high fives. Very nice.... The Beast: Out of all of the coaster at KI, this is the one I miss the most even though The Beast is probably my 4th favorite at KI. Then again, it is the oldest of the 4 and always has been the constant at KI. Row 17 was the seat of my choice. Diamondback: DB is my favorite at KI since this coaster opened in 2009. I do like this coaster more than Intimidator. Banshee: I forgot how fast this coaster was compared to Afterburn. Back right is my favorite seat on this coaster. Drop Tower: Of course, I had to get on DT. My marathon rides on DT may be over but I still love this ride. 10326 and counting. Bat: There are not too many suspended coasters left in the world. I still love this one even this is short. I believe there are only 4 Arrow Suspended coasters left in the world... Overall, a short but nice visit. We were at the park for just under 2 hours. I enjoyed talking to all the operators we knew from the past. I will visit from time to time when I am in town.
  12. I rode this a few times in the past. I really enjoyed this as Borg: the Assimilator back in Paramount days. Nighthawk is Firehawk minus the helix at the end. One major problem with Nighthawk is that this coaster is usually one train operation now. The lift hill is very quiet, however.
  13. Our coaster season started 2 weeks ago at Dollywood. We went to Carowinds opening weekend last week as well but it was rather chilly and both Fury and Intimidator were not open due to weather. On 4/1/2018, it was absolutely perfect weather at 75F. Fury is one of those coasters that provides everything that I look for in a coaster: intensity, lateral, air time, speed, length and great layout. I am still not sure whether Fury or Superman (SFNE) is my absolute favorite coaster. Carowinds do not have early ride in March or April so the park opened at 10 AM. As usual, we rode in the very back. My favorite seat is the back left. We even got to reride a few times when no one was waiting. Overall, we got to ride 12 times in 90 minutes. Afterward, we headed over to Intimidator for 2 rides. This coaster is starting to rattle like Diamondback but not as bad. My favorite seat has always been the back right. It looks like Flying Eagle (it will always be Flying Eagle to me) was removed. I believe they are relocating to another park of the park. We went to Afterburn for a few rides and left around 12:30 PM. Not bad to get 16 rides in in 2 and a half hours. We live about 70 minutes away from Carowinds now so that this is our home park. I will miss Kings Island though.
  14. Well, I will try to get convince them to get 416 feet tall Falcon's Fury type of Drop Tower.... I rather have a great wooden coaster at Carowinds first though. This maybe more realistic although I think Hurler RMC conversion is more likely.
  15. It was Saturday and around 58 degrees F when we got there. The park was rather busy but was getting extremely busy by 7 pm. When we were riding the Afterburn, I could see the traffic backed up on both directions with entire service road to the park packed. Granted, there is a Cabela's there now but still.... Just looking at that, I would say the park was as busy as some Halloween Saturdays. Yes. Ride Fury and decide for yourself. I am still deciding my old standby Bizarro (Superman) is still my favorite over this one.
  16. With my recent move to SC, Dollywood is just over 2 hours drive (in a decent weather I guess) from my house. I love Dollywood's atmosphere and has become one of my favorite place to visit especially during Smoky Mountain Christmas time. It took longer this time due to some precipitation on I-40 infamous winding freeway in western NC. When we got there, most of the rides were not open since the temperature was 39 degrees F. We waited in front of Lightning Rod but the operator said it will be a while before the ride will open. We decided to head to Blazing Fury which is indoor coaster ride. By the time we got out from Blazing Fury, Wild Eagle was open so we headed there. After years of riding Wild Eagle, the ride finally started to grow on me. I still think winged coasters are just a fad, but this one provides nice and reliable rides. We rode it 4 times. We saw Firechaser was open and headed there. This is an interesting little ride. Not many coasters provide backwards moving experience anymore. Our luck seem to continue. Mystery Mine was just finishing up testing when we got there. I always wished this ride was at Kings Island. There was a rumor back in the day that this ride was supposed to have been called Addams' Family Coaster when KI considered this and Italian Jobs. Obviously Italian Jobs was the winner. Whatever it was, I sure enjoy this ride. Many at KI know me as a Drop Tower junky. My last count on Drop Zone/Tower was 10,350. Considering DT will not be easy for me to get to, Drop Line here at Dollywood will be the one I will ride. This is 230 feet tall drop ride and similar to KI version, this is a gyro drop. It spun in opposite direction and actually spun twice. The second spin was interesting since the height did not change until the spin was completed. Another difference was that the 6 second delay on KI DT is not present on this one. Now for my favorite ride at Dollywood: Thunderhead. This was my favorite GCI until Mystic Timbers came along. This is still a fabulous wooden coaster with great airtime and laterals. We head toward Lightning Rod again. This time the wait was about 15 minutes. Well.... How in the world Lightning Rod and Mystery Mine have 15 and 10 minutes wait when Firechaser has 30 minute wait? Anyway, I sincerely hope they can make this ride reliable. This was the best Lightning Rod ride I have had thus far. We could not come to Dollywood without stopping to get Cinnamon bread, right? We decided to leave after having the bread since rain was moving in. It was going to be a soaker for the rest of the day. Here were some Christmas decorations around the park but it was not dark enough yet:
  17. Electro-Spin is a great flat that is open during Winterfest. I am not sure a must see but I really liked the music coordinated lights in front of Ricochet. It was very well done.
  18. Sorry. There were some duplicates so I deleted them. I re-posted. Thank you.
  19. We moved to SC in November. Now my home park is Carowinds. My son and I visited Carowinds to check out their Winterfest on 12/2/2017. It was warm enough to not have jackets but most of the people here did. Unfortunately, Fury 325 and Intimidator are not part of rides that are open during Winterfest. Afterburn is open, however. Because of Fury 325, I have not ridden this B&M Invert in 2 years. Last 2 years, I came to Carowinds only to ride Fury 325. It was extremely busy approaching Carowinds BLVD on I-77. The traffic was back up to I-485. We got to the park at 5 pm and head straight to Afterburn. It was still little bright but you can see some of the themes. Skating rink was next to Intimidator. We rode a few flats but mostly walked around enjoying the views and atmosphere. WindSeeker was used for a large decoration. This was the musical section with changing lights. The shade tunnel area was converted to a light show. Front entrance. Even Santa likes to ride Fury 325.
  20. Nice report. We were there on November 25. I agree that Lightning Rod is very good. I still think RMC trains can be designed to be more comfortable but they build some great coasters.
  21. It looks like the fire is contained somewhat but SFMM was evacuated and many homes around the area had mandatory evacuation. With I-5 closed, people cannot go anywhere easily. http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2017/12/05/santa-clarita-fire-2/
  22. It actually was a different source. http://abc7.com/santa-clarita-fire-grows-to-1000-acres/2741886/
  23. Sorry. I forgot to add the link. I even copied the link before submitting the new thread.
  24. New brush fire in Santa Clarita is quickly burning out of control. It looks like the fire is burning right around I-5 and Newhall Ranch in Castaic Junction. I hope that everyone stays safe and make sure to take all precautions. I-5 is closed on both directions.
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