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silver2005

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    Its 294 miles to Chicago, its dark, and we're wearing sunglasses- silver2005's Indiana/Chicago/Cleveland TR and Planning

    in Trip Reports

    Posted

    Personal milestones for this next trip-

    Potential new coasters- 24 (5 wood, 19 steel)

    First portable Schwarzkopf Looper- All American Triple Loop 

    First S&S El Loco- Steel Hawg

    First spiral lift coaster- Whizzer

    The original inverted coaster- Batman: The Ride

    My first CI Cyclone clone- Viper

    Largest racing coaster (sort of, I know it doesn't race)- American Eagle

    First tilt coaster- Siren's Curse

    Most highly anticipated new steel coaster- Raging Bull

    Most highly anticipated new wood coaster- Viper

     

    Its 294 miles to Chicago, its dark, and we're wearing sunglasses- silver2005's Indiana/Chicago/Cleveland TR and Planning

    in Trip Reports

    Posted

    So I guess I can do my TR now that I'm pretty much done.

    Left for Dale, IN Saturday afternoon.  Its only a 3 hour drive for me so I could sleep in and leave in the afternoon as the plan was to hit up Owensboro in the evening.  Ate at Moonlite BBQ which have ribs that don't need sauce, and the sauce they have is incredibly good, kind of a sweet and sour tangy and tender thing going on.   The peanut butter pie is also great.   Hung out on the riverfront park for a few hours including fountain ERT with coordinated sprayers and a short random concert which they do every Saturday in the summer.   Owensboro is a pretty nice town to check out during a HW venture, kind of a slice of life kind of vibe and very scenic.   

    Sunday was HW.  Got there at opening.  Got a bit of a conflicting start as Raven was down (was told it would be down all day from the operators but it did open by the time I finished SS), and Voyage was only running 1 train (which they apparently add the 2nd around noon-ish).   I did Voyage, T-Bird and Good Gravy before doing Splashin' Safari.   

    I was under the impression there would be rain later as in the morning, there was a cell developing around St Louis so I figured I had a window until 1 pm to do SS (spoilers- the rain completely dissipated by the time it hit Illinois, the only rain I got was a small shower that lasted less than a minute while riding T-Bird).   Got in Wildebeest, Mammoth, the mat racer, the lazy river and a little bit in one of the wave pools before leaving.  I couldn't ride Cheetah Chase as they don't pair up single riders for some reason.  Need to get back during HWN to remedy that.  After SS, I went back to towards the front and did Legend (avoided it as EVERYONE was going to it with Raven down early), Raven, and Frightful Falls.  Waits until that point, HW and SS rides included, was 15 minutes tops.  Ate pizza at the Marketplace.  Spent a LOT of time in there to get out of the heat and humidity.  It was pretty brutal all day.  The water in SS wasn't all that cool.  The combination of the heat, hilly layout with all the blacktop, and the intensity of the ride line up wore me out kind of quick.  I took my time through the last few hours.  After that it was just going through and re-riding stuff, eventually including Liberty Launch in there as well.   After lunch, all 3 woodies were walk on (including Voyage going back to 2 trains and Raven and Legend running 2 and often only filling 1, likely due to protein spills, Raven actually dropped to 1 train later in the day). 

    Ride counts-

    Voyage- 8 including LROTN

    Legend- 6

    Raven -3

    T-bird- 2

    All else- 1

    Staffing was kind of a mixed bag based on department.  Staffing that wasn't rides were all great per usual.  Ride ops were all over the place.  The 3 woodies' ops in particular had some horrible dispatch times.  I get it was very slow, but I also don't enjoy sitting on the brake run for, at times, multiple minutes at a time.   Voyage was easily the best of the 3 but still sus.  Good Gravy was incredibly efficient without feeling like they had to rush people and T-Bird was pretty good (T-bird also went down to 1 train close to its early closure for the drone show but the ops made up for it).  

    I feel I have to re-do ride reviews for HW with the kinds of cycles the woodies go through where they do a re-track , they eventually go bad, and the cycle continues.  I've actually decided to re-think how I rank my entire wooden coaster list because woodies go through that all the time, so I'm putting more of an emphasis on recency bias in terms of my wooden coaster rankings, which, if you've read earlier, I have a new #1 wooden coaster.

    Voyage- Good googly moogly this thing is running FANTASTICLY!   For a giant woodie as relentless as it is, I have to give the HW maintenance crews massive kudos for keeping this monster running as good as it is.  I eventually figured it would eventually go the SOB route with the size and the history with giant wooden coasters getting too rough over time, but HW is proving me wrong.   It is extremely comfortable, which makes its wicked intense course so enjoyable.  It has a few moments of ejector air on par with Maverick in spots, particularly in the back (first drop, the drop off the MCBR, and the small hill between tunnels on the out-route before the spaghetti bowl).  The one slightly rough bit was the s-curve hill over the lift, but other than that, its running about as perfect as it can get.  The 2nd half, even with the MCBR on but isn't biting as hard, gives me trim-less vibes.  Most of my rides were in 6-1, it's absolutely wild in the back.

    Legend- Also running very comfortably, the only rough bit is the drop before the ascent into the far turnaround.  Has great airtime for what it is (the 2 camelbacks before the helix and every drop after the helix) and it pours on the lateral G's in the helix. 

    Raven- This was the problem child.  Aside from the first drop, all the other good parts need some extensive TLC.  After the tunnel, the lateral curve on the 2nd hill and the following drop before the lake turn jackhammered a bit.  The lake turn has signs of problems as it was kind of rumbly but still tolerable.  The few bits before drop 5 were nice, but then it gets a temper tantrum.  I'd say the rough part begins about halfway on drop 5, the following s-curves and the wide turn start to get worse, then you hit a mind-numbing pothole.  If anyone here has been in a car accident and know the kind of whiplash you get from a more jarring hit, that's what the pothole feels like.  It's close to unrideable.  I tried a few more rides to see if riding in different spots made a difference, but each re-ride made it worse, which pains me to say as peak Raven is great.  I'd say about half the ride needs a re-track. 

    Good Gravy- My lone new credit this venture.  I like it about on par with KI's version.  It has better theming, though I think it's a tad over-the-top but it adds its own charm admittedly.  Has a more interesting layout than KI's especially with the path interaction, and I think I like the reversing spike better as there is a decent bit of weightlessness that KI's doesn't have with its double-up spike and is surprisingly steep for a family ride.   I am giving this the nod over KI's overall. 

    Thunderbird- This was unexpectedly running quite intense the day I went.  The quickness of the acceleration took me by surprise this time around and it was hauling pretty fast through the layout.   Had quite a few more positive G moments compared to my previous rides.   It is in dire need of a re-paint soon though.  I got a bit of a race with Voyage on one of my rides.     

    Its 294 miles to Chicago, its dark, and we're wearing sunglasses- silver2005's Indiana/Chicago/Cleveland TR and Planning

    in Trip Reports

    Posted

    So the rain turned out to not happen, but it's supposed to be more humid than yesterday.  Getting a later start today, probably getting to HW between 12 and 1.   Probably skipping Raven due to its roughness.

    The problem spot is out of the wide turn in the finale, there's a vicious pot hole before entering the brakes.  The entire finale needs retracking and also the bit between the 2nd hill and the lake turnaround.  

    Its 294 miles to Chicago, its dark, and we're wearing sunglasses- silver2005's Indiana/Chicago/Cleveland TR and Planning

    in Trip Reports

    Posted

    So far so good on weather.  A bit humid, but only a brief shower early. 

    Voyage and Legend are running GREAT!

    Raven is the problem child.  Rough in spots before the turnaround and really needs TLC in the finale.

    Good Gravy was pretty fun, liked the theming.

    Thunderbird is running really intense today, in a good way.

    Didn't manage to ride Cheetah Chase as it doesn't allow single riders.  Wildebeest and Mammoth were great, albeit Mammoth is a bit violent (still good).

     

    • Like 1

    Its 294 miles to Chicago, its dark, and we're wearing sunglasses- silver2005's Indiana/Chicago/Cleveland TR and Planning

    in Trip Reports

    Posted

    So for all you guys who like to venture to Holiday World and don't mind a 40 minute detour, look up Moonlite BBQ in Owensboro, KY.  Highly, highly recommended.  Owensboro also has a nice riverfront park as well to check out.

    Unfortunately, I'm hearing rain and possible thunderstorms both tomorrow and Monday.  I'm going to wing it concerning Splashin Safari, but I am prepared to abort on the water park if need be.  

     

    Its 294 miles to Chicago, its dark, and we're wearing sunglasses- silver2005's Indiana/Chicago/Cleveland TR and Planning

    in Trip Reports

    Posted

    So I head to Holiday World next weekend, and I'm starting to see iffy weather for both days I'm going (Sunday and Monday).  I might be able to get in some good riding early and may have to blitz the water park on whichever day looks better, but the evenings look iffy for night riding. 

    There is also a strong possibility I'll be at KI on the 4th including Soak City.

    • Like 1

    King’s Dominion 5/17 - 5/18

    in Trip Reports

    Posted

    I have to admit, that new Pantherian paint job is growing on me.  Much more striking for a giga than the old McDonald's colors.  The only thing cooler would be if the lift supports were gradient from black at the bottom to red at the top.   As someone who thinks they got kind of neglected after they built I-305, I'm really happy for the investments CF/SIX has been sending their way in recent years.  I feel like they were too afraid too compete with that park down the road at Williamsburg for a while.  Glad they're re-finding their niche in their market. 

    • Like 2
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