touchdown62

I just went to Carowinds yesterday. My first time in either Carolina (outside of an airport). I enjoyed it. I may do a little TR later. As far as Hurler was concerned, I wasn't quite sure what to make about seeing the rebuilt turn after the 1st drop. I was like "ok, what happened here) thinking back to what happened with Sonny. I enjoyed Hurler. Didn't seem as rough as people made it out to be in the past (from what I've read). The rebuilt turn was quite smooth and set you up for the rest of the course. Nice little woody.

I bet more people than you think know that the ride FKA Drop Zone didn't have seat belts. My first ride on that F@#$%^g machine was without belts.

I've been following the progress on GCI's Facebook page. This coaster does look wicked. I love that it also looks to be a terrain hugger.

I have heard there is one on Pluto... maybe 2. Touchdown, who's surprised Terpy didn't come up with this one first.

Hey you Terpy. Quit chuckin my wood!

haha yes I was! that was me. haha ill guess next time ill have to show some affiliation with kic. its hard to match screennames with real faces! I remember you coming to Beast final rides saying you were new to this sort of thing. Stick around. You'll find it's worthwhile to be a part of a fan site or a club with the special events that take place. Before Terpy can be Terpy, Kings Island is very good to KICentral members. Kings Island invites KICentral members to coaster events. Not all parks (practically no parks for that matter) extend that courtesy to fan site members.

I would like to see a new water slide put in Boomerang Bay, perhaps a "looping" slide. I know someone will correct me on this if needed, but when I was in the park, I never saw the floral clock working. I would like to see that get some TLC. Speaking of clocks, I would like to see a new mechanism installed so the Festhaus clock would work again. Not sure if it's possible, but I can dream. As posted by CoastersRZ in another thread, bring back the Band! Another hard one that might not be possible, get the calliope on the Grand Carousel working again. There has to be modern parts and technology available to get it working again. We can fill the sky with satellites that can read the serial number on a dollar bill. We should be able to fix an early 20th century machine.

I didn't think it was a big deal. I just didn't expect the computer science lesson and fundamental semantics that followed. I just thought it was funny there was a Six Flags ad banner on a Kings Island site. Certain people on here really need to develop a sense of humor and stop taking things so seriously.

I know it means nothing. Just weird to see an ad banner for SF on a CF site. It would be like going to the Pepsi website and seeing an ad banner for Coke.

This on the home page struck me as odd. I know about ad banners site hosts put up, but this seems a little weird...

Thanks for reading and enjoying the pics. Both of these parks were awesome in their own unique ways. I was amazed at the difference in atmosphere and processes between the big corporate amusement park and the smaller, family-owned, historical amusement park. I may post some pics of my trip to Philly. Some of the pics are from my Ride the Ducks tour. It's weird to think I was on one of those amphibious vehicles less than 2 weeks before the tragic accident of a couple days ago.

Time for a report of the second coaster park I visited on my trip to Pennsylvania. I was in Philly for a conference, and I made it a point to get to at least a couple of new parks. You all saw my trip to SF Great Adventure. Now it's time to share my experience at Kennywood, if I can still remember what I did. After leaving New Jersey, I still had 5-6 hours ahead of me to get to the Pittsburgh suburbs. Thank goodness for hotels.com, because at the Red Roof Inn I chose, I had the last room. Fortunately, this is an ethical hotel and still had my room ready for me at 3 AM. This hotel was about 7 miles from Kennywood, but I still needed my VZW Navigator to find my way around. When I found the park, I decided to pay the $6 for parking. The free lot was quite a long walk, so I got about a half-mile closer by paying the money. Next to the front gate, there's a historical marker. I like historical markers. This one just hints at how much history you're about to walk in to... After I paid for my ticket, I walked through the tunnel that goes under the street and walked into one of the nicest little parks I've ever been in. Lots of history, the old rides, and the modern attractions intermingled. After walking by their new coaster, which was due to open 2 days from the day I went (GRRRRR fail), I walked by some old midway games and found myself by The Racer. Yes, I walked past Jack Rabbit first, but for some reason I was drawn to The Racer. Guess it was for comparison to KI's Racer. Note, there is no comparison. The restored facade of Racer, befitting of its historical landmark status One of the 2 racing trains. They ran blue and green on this day. Red was taking a day off. History. ACE was there the previous week to present its roller coaster landmark plaque to the park. As one of the signs says, this is 1 of 3 continuous-track coasters left in the world. It's one track that parallels itself around 2 laps. You start the ride on one side of the platform, and end up on the other side when the ride ends. To end up where you started, you need to ride twice, which I would not be opposed to. This is such a fun ride. It's got decent speed, but has lots of nice curves and turns. Oh yeah, the trains actually race. They both are released at the same time by design of the ride. At the start, one train takes the lead as it's on the inner track, then as the ride continues and the train ends up on the outside of curves, the second train catches up. A friendly rivalry sets up between the 2 trains as the ride progresses, and by the end, they're pretty much even, setting up even more trash talk. This ride dates back to 1927, and it is a lot of fun in 2010. Walked around to take in some of the park. They have some nice little fountains throughout the park. I found the train station in the rear of the park and decided to check it out. In the front of the station, you're greeted by I don't know what can be so da##ed funny, but this chick never stopped laughing. It actually does make you laugh after a while. The train ride is mostly uneventful. It takes you along the river bank behind the picnic groves while a recording talks about the history of the park, from 1898 through the present, talking about the rides that have come and gone, the struggles during the Great Depression and the 2 World Wars, and the expansions of the park and its company. At least it's a peaceful 10 minutes in the shade. It was approximately in the low 90s that day and humid. Ooooo yes. Thunderbolt about ready to go into another dive. This old woodie dates back in one form or another to 1924. The trains are original. There are signs that say you MUST ride with a partner. No riding solo. Uh oh. I'm solo. The ride ops were trying to find someone who wanted to ride twice. No takers. One of the ride ops actually jumped in with me. So nice. This is the first coaster I can recall that has the single bench seat with the single bar restraint. Now I know why you need a partner. After the rather shocking start where you plummet like 40 feet right out of the gate, you slip and slide in your seat through all the turns, then nosedive down several drops. This ride was so much fun that I think even I could marathon it all day long. Thanks for the ride, old timer! I think I smell another coaster!!! The fourth steel coaster built at Kennywood, but oldest existing and operating steelie. In its current form, it's a deceiving Hypercoaster, deceiving in that it's not over 200' tall, but with the terrain of the area, it has a 228' drop and goes 85 mph. This may be an Arrow (modified by Morgan), but it's quite smooth. Not quite B&M smooth, but still very smooth nonetheless. There are some hills which give you some nice airtime, but there's one, after you dance with Thunderbolt for a little bit, that's a double-dip. You get some nice air, then like on a country road, you flatten out for a bit, causing you to crash back into your seat, but only for a fraction of a second before the second half of the hill. This is a surprising modern steel thrill included with an historical theme park. If you look real close, there's a maintenance worker climbing his way to the top... carrying a little oil can. He's still up there, even with the train climbing the hill. Most big corporate parks would probably shut the ride down until he was done greasing whatever needed to be greased. Phantom's Revenge rising above the area known as Pittsburg's (spelling is correct) Lost Kennywood, home to old-time shops, midway games, carnival rides, and this... Who doesn't love a flume ride? This is all connected to a large pool and fountains, surrounded by a sitting area. Part of this sitting area does get wet, so it's not necessary to ride the flume or "stand on the bridge" to get relief from the heat. This was my final ride of the day. It was hot, and there really is no place that has air conditioning. There is a big sit-down restaurant, but I didn't feel like having a big meal just so I could get cooled off. This is the oldest ride still operating in the park... There's a tunnel in the distance, and to the left, you can see the main drop... a double-dip drop, a rare element anymore in coasters. There they go toward the tunnel. Another train getting ready to go down the double-dip. This is another ride with the single bench seat. It has a stationary restraint bar. You slide in and hold on. No seat belts, no "need another click," no stapling. Very simple, very old-style, but effective given the design of the ride. This ride also wound up to be coaster number 50 for me, at least as best as I can remember. As much as I like history and old things like this, I think it's appropriate that coaster #50 should be one that was opened in 1920 and just has a stationary restraint bar to keep you in. Another historical attraction in the park is its carousel. I just had to take a ride. Yes, that band organ actually works. It sounded pretty darn good if you ask me. Another angle: This was in the area of the carousel, a monument to George Washington: Pretty cool. On the way out, I decided to snap a few pics of the new coaster that I couldn't go on because I was 48 hours too early That drop is actually vertical. Oh yeah, this is a smart park: Mmmmmm Pepsi. That was it for Kennywood. I enjoyed my few hours in this historic old park, but I had to get back to Indiana by a reasonable time, reasonable being before sunrise. In a while, I'll share some of my pictures from my time in Philly, you know, the real reason I was out east in the first place.

Somehow I don't think a ride would be totally shut down merely for the purpose of power washing the queue area, unless you're looking at a public health danger/emergency. As stated above many times, Delirium has been down before, usually a seasonal occurrence, due to mechanical issues. Something broke, and they're waiting for a new part to come in or to machine a new part.

Don't take anything loose on El Toro. Make sure your sun/glasses are secured or at least tight, or the second hill will rip them right off your head. Hands up so you can maximize your ejector air sensation. I didn't go on Superman. With 5-6 hour trip ahead of me, I didn't need to get my brains scrambled. Don't buy too much while in the park, as you are not allowed to take ANYTHING loose with you on rides, and you can't put anything on the side like you can at KI. If you do get a lot of stuff in the park, be sure to take plenty of dollar coins for the lockers (there are change machines). You MUST leave your stuff with a non-rider or in a locker. This includes bottles, souvenir cups, bags/purses/backpacks, and big fuzzy animals. I saw ride ops throw away souvenir cups if people placed them on the platform when they loaded the ride. Speaking of souvenir cups, BUY ONE. They're $12.99, but you get a wristband for free refills all day on the day of purchase. After that, refills are 99 cents each all day, every day. If it's hot, Powerade can be your friend. Buy your ticket in advance. It's not necessary to buy your parking in advance, but you can if you know you'll be able to print your parking ticket at home. If you can't, just buy your admission ticket in advance and get your confirmation number. They have kiosks in front of the main gates where you can print your ticket. Pretty cool. Something KI/CF could work on perhaps. Man, don't close your eyes. Defeats the purpose of facing your fears. You will not fall out, and don't let the possibility of a rollback or even a stall freak you out. On KK, you're up and over so fast, you can't even think about how high you are. Get a very supportive group and get on TTD or KK. I now know what I was missing by not wanting to go on either. You'll feel so alive when you get to the end of the ride.

Let's see here. The deal for Cedar Fair to purchase Paramount parks occurred in the summer of 2006, but didn't fully exert their influence until the offseason and into the start of 2007. A lot can go wrong with a ride in 2 years if not properly maintained, and IMO, IJ:ST was not properly maintained. On Italian Job, it didn't seem like the effects with the helicopter and the explosions lasted all that long. When it was renamed BLSC 2 years later, it seemed to me a lot of those effects weren't working, or they were mistimed. That's the BLSC I remember riding. Nowadays, those effects work almost every time. I have seen it where they're shut down during bad weather, but that just makes sense. Don't want natural gas around if there's a possibility of lightning. I don't care that the lights in the parking garage scene are off. Makes the ride a little better with that area totally dark. I also don't care the "splashdown" isn't filled anymore, since the design didn't actually allow for a splashdown. Paramount may have spent $1M to refurbish the Royal Fountains, but, to me at least, the programming was lacking, as far as rotating the sprays and lights were concerned. Maybe it's just perception, but it seems to me these effects are working much better now than they did at the end of Paramount's run. Just because the mechanics of the Festhaus clock were removed doesn't mean I wouldn't still like to see all that restored sometime in the future. I would be supremely ticked if the whole thing was removed, though.