gigacoaster2k

I like the Festhaus, where they have LaRosa's Pizza and Panda Express. I'm also fond of Stunt Crew Grill in Action Zone, and Chick Fil A. Oh and you must get ice cream from Graeter's. I don't eat at Outer Hanks.. I'm allergic to seafood, so I wouldn't know how the food is there.

I'm glad I got to ride I305 before they added Cedar Fair's inevitable signature trim brakes. Why is it always necessary for this chain of parks to trim the everliving crap out of a coaster that is supposed to be intense and thrilling? There was nothing wrong with I305.. people black out on Millennium Force all the time but there are zero trims on it. Thank heaven for Holiday World where they don't tame down their coasters for the sissies that can't handle them. And no offense, but (I'm really going to go off here): Everyone who hasn't ridden I305 really needs to stop thinking that because it's modeled somewhat after Maverick and because they watched the POV and because TPR's infamous Robb Alvey "blacked out" on it and because your friend of a friend of a cousin that works there said so, that there is awful head banging. No. I rode I305 twice on KD opening day. I did not get 1/4 the head banging on it that I did on Maverick, nor did I black out. I saw gray dots for like 2 seconds. Everyone is different and every coaster has a different effect on each person. Stop with the assuming before you ride something. This is the exact same thing as judging a book by its cover, which many of you tell others not to do. /rant I'm not going to assume that the trims will kill the ride. I'm not happy about it seeing as how other CF trims operate, but I'm not going to jump to conclusions about how good or bad the ride may be before I go back to KD and ride it and see for myself.

Bring an empty Pepsi can with you to the admission booth. You will get $7 off your ticket. Raven is their small wooden coaster. It's a bit short, but it has great speed and a nice surprise second drop that IMO is better than the first one. Don't take your cell phone out in the station, or they will take it from you and put it in a locker. Legend is a great wooden coaster with lots of lateral Gs. Ride on the left side for the full effect. Be prepared to have a PTC train imprint on your left side. LOL Voyage is their star wooden coaster. It's the #1 woodie in the world.. ride it and see why. It will blow your mind. If you enjoy rides like Boo Blasters, go to Gobbler Getaway over by Voyage. There is also a tilt-a-whirl called Turkey Whirl. I'm not fond of tilt-a-whirls, but Tom is, and he loves that ride. Liberty Launch is a short but extremely fun S&S double shot that gives such a great pop of air that your shoulders will hit the restraint. If you like water rides, hit Pilgrims Plunge if it's running.. it's the world's tallest water ride. I get drenched every time. Splashin' Safari is a fantastic water park.. definitely bring bathing suits, towels, flip flops, etc. And there is free SPF 30 sunscreen available to you in the park! The bumper cars are pretty awesome. DO NOT leave without going to Mrs. Klaus' Kitchen and getting some fudge. They also have caramel apples, cookies, Christmas ornaments, it's a place not to miss if you have a sweet tooth. A certain violakat03 and I also love funnel cakes from the Funnel Cake Factory. XD The pizza at Kringle's Cafe is great. I hear Plymouth Rock Cafe has some fantastic food.. they serve Thanksgiving dinner every day. I haven't eaten there yet, but I plan to. Don't worry about saving money in the park, they worry about that for you. Their food prices are far more reasonable than most other parks. If you wear cargo pockets regularly to parks, I suggest you do. Their wooden coasters are nothing short of intense, and you WILL lose your loose articles. Make sure everything is secure before you ride any of their coasters. They have Eagles Flight (flying eagles) too, but don't try to snap them or the ride ops will yell at you. One mile away from HW is a place called Santa's Candy Castle. They have frozen hot chocolate, gourmet candy canes, etc., and they stay open an hour after HW closes. I haven't been there yet as Tom and I got lost along with 2 other KICers lol, but I plan to go. I'd tell you to have fun on your first trip to HW, but that's a given. You may want to end up staying there for a second day instead of going to KI.. trust me, if you don't fall in love with that park, I don't know what's wrong with you.

One of my customers asked me the other day that they heard KI removed The Beast. I laughed and said oh trust me that is far from true, I've been there 3 times already and I've ridden it. His response was oh ok, good, it's the world's longest wooden coaster, it holds that title you know. ok.

I assume that would be quite a large amount of nickels for someone to carry into the park.

Last Saturday when Tom and I went to Holiday World, we were in Voyage's station when we noticed that the kid next to us was bawling and telling his mom he didn't want to ride. She pretty much dragged him onto the train anyway, and he started crying even harder. The ride op came up and politely said, "Ma'am, I can't let him ride if he's going to be that scared." The mother reluctantly agreed, and the ride op let him out and opened the exit for him. I quietly told the ride op thank you. I can see trying to get your kid to ride Raven, but DRAGGING THEM ON VOYAGE?? Are you serious? As someone that was dragged on Drop Tower long ago when I still had a paralyzing fear of heights, I absolutely do not believe in doing that to anyone. You guys have no idea what it took before I could finally get on Drop Tower and enjoy it. To this day, I rarely have a ride where my palms aren't sweating at the top.. I don't blame anyone for chickening out/not wanting to ride it.

"Line jumping is when you leave the line to go ride something else and then come back. It's not line jumping if you come back after leaving to use the restroom or going to get a drink of water."

Thanks for posting those, Amy. It makes me a little wistful to see parks like that, knowing I never got the chance to go (of course in some cases, I can't help that I wasn't born yet!).

I remember when it went backward.. *sniffle*

Good point, but look at parks like Holiday World, Dollywood, and Stricker's Grove. They are certainly doing well. Dollywood is the only park I've ever visited where I know I could not ride a coaster for an entire day, and still have a great time. Holiday World may be a small park in the middle of nowhere, but they work VERY hard to make their customers happy. They are consistently voted cleanest and friendliest park. Plus they have the world's tallest water ride, the world's #1 wooden coaster, and are soon debuting the world's longest water coaster. They also offer their customers drinks, SPF 30 sunscreen, and parking all without additional cost. Holiday World certainly does not need a lesson in marketing strategy, and they are proof that dynamite comes in small packages. Not every small park is doomed. You don't always have to have a 300 foot coaster to keep your customers coming back, because that's not what everyone wants.

The blue side does jackhammer me a bit, but I ride it anyway. I got a reride on Georgia Cyclone, and rode Voyage 22 times in 8 hours.. I can certainly handle Blue Racer.

Saturday while Tom and I were on Voyage's lift at Holiday World, I excitedly yelled that it was my 11th (?) ride of the day. This 10 year old (?) girl in front of us turned around and smugly said "This is my 5,000th ride." My response was a sarcastic "uh huh." kids

I absolutely could not agree with you more. Holiday World is my #1 favorite park out of the 13 I've been to. So many people think that because I'm a ride warrior, that I'm going to love the park with more coasters. Yes, I like to lap coasters, but I also like to stop and enjoy the atmosphere, try their food and desserts, and yes I even stop to smell the flowers, take photos of a parent goose with their goslings, and read about the park's history, etc. I would have LOVED to have seen KI when it first opened. If that 1972 park was still here today, you can bet I would DEFINITELY go. Don't get me wrong. I LOVE Cedar Point.. the place has a magic I cannot describe that pulls you in like a magnet. There's always bands playing, shows going on, music blasting, coasters and rides going.. the energy of CP has literally given me goosebumps just from walking into the park. Not to mention CP has some pretty interesting historical significance. I like big crazy parks, and I also like small charming parks. For me, it just all depends on what they have to offer.

I won't be at KI that weekend. May 15 and 16 is Cedar Point opening weekend, and I already made plans far in advance to go up there. I'm sorry. I do hope you have a great trip though.. welcome to KIC, and be sure to post a trip report!

Same here! No wait whatsoever!

Friday afternoon after I got off work, I packed up my stuff and headed down to Tom's. The plan was to stay at his house for the night, and then head to HW in the morning. The forecast was saying 80% chance of heavy thunderstorms, and I was getting depressed watching Tom try to make other plans just in case it didn't work out. Later that night, we got a text from Adam (pkiboy) saying the storm was moving pretty fast, and that it MAY blow over. I literally dropped to my knees and begged the heavens for the storm to pass fast enough that we could go. Holiday World is my #1 favorite park, and even with Tom questioning the weather, my plan was firm in my mind that we were going no matter what. Saturday morning, we woke up around 5:15 - 5:30 am. We planned on heading out around 6:30 am to give a little more time for stops for gas, or traffic issues. I checked the weather radar to see that the storm was slowly but surely moving away from HW. No sooner did I turn off his road than it started to rain. It rained the entire way from Fairfield, OH to Tell City, IN. Thankfully the snacks/food I'd packed kept me awake, along with my cherry Amp energy drink, and listening to my iPod on shuffle. As we drove closer to Holiday World, I screamed with joy as I saw a break in the clouds.. and BLUE SKY!! We got a text from Adam telling us to meet his group at Wendy's. My gas light was on, and had been on for several miles, so we decided to skip it. We got to the park shortly after 9 am, and I decided against bringing my camera in with me (hence there being no photos in this TR). I did take a few photos, but I'd like to save the PTR for when I go to HoliWood Nights. We got to the main gate, and Tom presented a Mountain Dew can to receive $7 off a one-day admission. I went to the season pass center and got my season pass. Completely hassle free and very quick process, and it worked the first time it scanned. I loudly made a comment about how I was glad at least one of my passes worked this year, and one of the employees laughed. I think they knew what I was getting at. XD We speedily walked down the path to Voyage, and they had a rope up just past Kringle's Cafe. I looked behind us to see Adam, Shawn (Beast Man) and his lady, and Jared (rotag)! I saw a few others, but I was way too excited to remember who.. I'm sorry! The rope dropped, and some people walked. I jogged right along with Tom, but as soon as I saw Voyage, I bolted for the queue.. we were WAY ahead of everyone else! Tom stopped and let me enter the queue first.. I ran to the station and as soon as I got there, I shouted "GOOD MORNING!" to the ride ops in the empty station.. they all said it back! I chose the seat second from the back (someone was already waiting for the very back seat). I was the SECOND public rider of the year to enter the queue, and we got on the first train of the year!! We rode FOUR MORE TIMES without having to re-enter the queue! Yes, the park was THAT empty! After those 5 mind blowing rides, I told Tom I was ready for Legend. We rode that FOUR TIMES without having to re-enter the queue! Tom needed a break, so I headed to Raven, where the station was once again empty. I got a reride in the very back seat! However, when I exited Raven, Tom was nowhere to be found. I called him, with no answer. I finally saw him coming around the corner with a drink. We walked around for a bit, and headed to Liberty Launch, and then Eagles Flight. Tom ALMOST had it snapping very slightly.. the ride ops were giving him evil looks. I wouldn't suggest trying to snap their Eagles.. 1 it's impossible, and 2 you will most certainly get yelled at. Walking past one of the gift shops, I decided to stop and get gifts for Kat and Nick. They were gracious enough to let us stay in their hotel room free of charge for Saturday night, so I decided to buy them something as a token of my appreciation and friendship. I bought Kat a purple Holiday World carabiner, and Nick a blue one. I sat with the group and gave Kat and Nick their gifts, and we made plans to meet up for funnel cakes at noon when the Funnel Cake Factory opened. Tom and I ate, and then our group (which had now grown to 12 people), headed to the Funnel Cake Factory. Kat ended up getting the first funnel cake of the season, and Tom and I shared a funnel cake. Someone asked what Nick got, and he shared his fried Oreos with us.. it was my first time trying one. Not bad, but I like good old funnel cakes better. There was also a sparrow eyeing our funnel cakes, so we shared with the tiny bird, who was very happy about that. After that, we headed for the bumper cars. We had a great time bashing the garbage out of each other, and all yelled "aw man!" when it was over. Back to Voyage we went, and I rode five more times without re-entering the queue. It was starting to rain, so Jared, Tom and I went to Gobbler Getaway, which is a dark ride kind of on the idea of Boo Blasters. I failed miserably with a score of 30. It's more family friendly than Boo Blasters is, but the targets are harder to hit. I liked it because the gun sounds like a turkey call when you press the trigger. After that, we walked outside to see that it was still pouring, and I even saw a flash of lightning and a clap of thunder, but all the rides were still going. Tom, Jared, and Gary decided to hit Turkey Whirl (HW's Tilt A Whirl). Not feeling up to a spinny ride, I passed up Turkey Whirl for a solo ride on Voyage. I met back up with them, and they wanted another rainy ride on TW, so I headed back to Voyage. I looked down at them from the hill and waved, and they waved back. We were debating on what to do next, when Adam runs into the line for Voyage. He was yelling COME ON, ANGIE! I caved, and entered the queue.. I looked behind me to see my entire group following me! I got two rides without re-entering the queue! That made a total of FOUR rain rides on Voyage! On one of those rides, I had my arms crossed over my face to block the rain, and as we hit the more intense parts of the coaster, I was suddenly thrown sideways so forcefully that I headbutted the seat cushion next to me! That was insane! Off to Legend we went, and we got 2 rides without re-entering the queue. Over to Raven we went, and we got 2 rides without re-entering the queue. The group headed over to Eagles Flight, and I backed out. After 14 rides on Voyage, I couldn't even look at the Eagles without feeling nauseous. As much as I wanted to ride it, my stomach said it was likely a bad idea. Adam didn't ride either. No one blamed us for skipping out on the Eagles. Back to Voyage we went, and we got 3 rides without re-entering the queue. The group went over to Legend, and Tom skipped it. He waited for me, and I got off the train. The rest of the group looked at me like I was crazy. I suddenly realized we only had half an hour left in the park, and announced to Tom that I wanted to lap Voyage until the park closed. Tom told them where we were going.. I got FIVE rides without re-entering the queue, and got the last train of the day. We all took photos with Santa too. My ride count (saving the best for last): Gobbler Getaway - 1 Eagles Flight - 1 Bumper Cars - 1 Liberty Launch - 1 Raven - 4 Legend - 7 Voyage - 22 THIRTY-SEVEN RIDES IN 8 HOURS!! Our group met up, and we all agreed on Mrs Klaus Kitchen.. home of the famous fudge (made with cream and butter!). I bought 5 pieces, and our group walked to the exit together. Kat, Tom, Nick and I all agreed on Santa's Candy Castle, which is only 1 mile south of Holiday World. We both ended up going the wrong direction, and never made it to the place lol. Kat told me to meet them at the HW entrance, and told us to follow them to their friend Andy's for free soup night. Not objecting to free food and meeting new people, I followed. The four of us ended up eating delicious soup, listening to music from a laptop, and chatting with 5 HW ride ops and a group of several other random people in the loft of an antique store/furniture dept/apt complex somewhere in Indiana. It was the most random thing ever, and we had a lot of fun getting to know people. I went downstairs to check out the antique store, and saw that it was adjacent to a small restaurant. A lady that worked there bought me a vanilla cupcake with white chocolate caramel icing.. it was the most decadent cupcake I'd ever had in my life. The four of us were getting tired, and headed to Kat and Nick's hotel room. We stayed up for a few hours joking, and watching amusement park videos and POVs, and finally went to sleep. Tom and I left the next morning, and sadly, we parted with our dear friends Kat and Nick. I hadn't gotten much sleep, and 90% of the drive back was in a complete downpour. After driving nearly 100 miles in a deluge with my wipers on high, getting irritated with people tailgating me, and starting to get hypnotized by the road, I HAD to pull off and rest for a little while. I'd also seen two cars that had hit the wall, one was facing the opposite direction, and semi trucks were flying past me at speeds definitely not safe for the road conditions. Not to mention, I was extremely sore from power riding Voyage as much as I had. We finally made it back to his house 4 1/2 hours after we had left. I am SO GLAD that we ignored the weather forecast and went anyway. I would love to rewind this weekend and live it all over again, well, except for some parts. I had an amazing time with everyone.. thank you to everyone who went for making it all worth it. <3

I'm gong to Holiday World on Saturday. Thanks! I LOVE my new camera! Actually, my favorite Arrow looper is Tennessee Tornado at Dollywood.. which is odd for me since I usually tend to stay away from them, the OTSRs bang my head around too much.

The three of us headed to AE, which beat me up more than usual. I don't know why I continue to ride this thing. Tom and I headed back to Drop Tower, and Ryan bailed.. I don't blame him or anyone for not wanting to ride DT.. it still freaks me out a little even after riding it as many times as I have. We met back up with Ryan, went back to BLSC, and then hit DB. A pic of the Eiffel Tower I took from DB's stairs. Ryan got his fortune from the all-knowing and rather creepy Zoltar.. ew, the eyes are staring right at you Ryan! BACK AWAY! Tom and I were getting hungry, so we went to get lunch. I wanted to go to the Eiffel Tower and see what my camera could do, so we met back up with Ryan and went up to the Tower. Planet Snoopy from above.. looks great! SKLOOSH! DB about to crest the 230-foot lift! Firehawk riders getting loopy! Vortex. LOOK at that nonexistent line! Goin' down! Woodstock Express hitting the turnaround. After that, the three of us headed to BLSC to see Ronny (Gordon Bombay). Nothing special there.. ha ha, just kidding Ronny, we heart you. I was still craving a ride on my precious Racer, and we decided to go for it even though it was only running the blue side. Strangely enough, I felt no pain. I sure did on opening day. I figure if I can handle two rides in a row on Georgia Cyclone without leaving my seat, I can certainly handle blue Racer! It started pouring rain, so Ryan split. Tom and I headed for the train to see Alyssa (TrainedBeast). We ran into Adam (pkiboy), Gary (XGatorhead), Jared (rotag), and one of their friends. We got off the train to see DB was running in rain mode, so we went for it! As I said on my FaceBook, "yay for 230-foot water rides with epic airtime!" DB in the rain is painfully awesome! The six of us headed to Flight Deck, which had a completely empty station! WE GOT FIVE, YES, FIVE RIDES IN A ROW WITHOUT LEAVING OUR SEATS! Tom and Jared decided to ride Invertigo, and the rest of the group completely disappeared, so I took this opportunity to head to Diamondback. They weren't assigning seats, so I got to sit in row 16! I got off the train, got back in line, and saw that somehow my group ended up in front of me. They waited in the station for me, and then we ended the night with a ride on Beast. MY RIDE COUNT: Diamondback - 6 Flight Deck - 6 Beast - 3 Backlot Stunt Coaster - 3 Drop Tower - 2 Flight of Fear - 1 Adventure Express - 1 Racer - 1 Eiffel Tower - 1 KI/MV Railroad - 1 25 rides in 12 hours on a SATURDAY, and still had time to eat breakfast and lunch. I call this day a win.

Tom (Tom76257) and I decided to hit KI this past Saturday, even though rain and thunderstorms were in the forecast. I also took this opportunity to see what my 10.1mp Sony Cybershot could do. We left his house around 8:30 am, and got to the tolls around 8:50 am to see that every parking lot was coned off, and Gold Pass Parking was blocked off by a KI security truck, so there was a line going from the coned off areas all the way out past the tolls onto the road. It was PAST 9 am (which was the starting time for ERT) before they finally let us in to park. It was ridiculous.. I'd like to know the reason for this. I took a photo of DB testing in the drizzle while we were waiting. We finally got in to the park around 9:15 am, and bolted for DB. We got on the first train of the day! Then I suggested we head to Beast, because wooden coasters with a wet track are amazing! Beast was a complete walk on! Tom and I ran from the entrance all the way to the station, through the gates, and into 2 empty seats!! PLUS, no one was waiting for our seat when we returned to the station, so we got a re-ride! Tom remembered that I didn't get to ride my precious Drop Tower on opening day, so we headed that way. I jumped up and down for joy as I saw it was half full, and NOBODY was in the queue! We ran right up and got in a seat! I also discovered that Flight Deck really books it when the track is wet, so we headed that way. The station here was empty too! Tom was sad to see this.. honestly, I am too. At this point, I was getting hungry again, so Tom and I went to go grab some food. We re-entered the park, and I snapped a photo of our royal fountains. I spotted some Canada geese and their goslings I'm surprised they let us get so close! The goslings are just too adorable! We said no to Racer because it was only running the blue side (ouch) so we went to check out FOF's line. I feared it would be long, as it sometimes is, but we were thrilled to have a station wait! We only waited 2 trains! We decided to go visit Cory Butcher on BLSC, and there was a very short wait. We kinda sorta met up with Ryan (BoddaH1994), because we saw DB's wait was practically nothing. We looked back and saw him in line. I politely and quietly asked the ride attendant for seat 1, and he said YES! So I bolted to that seat (I LOVE ROW 1 ON DB!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) and I couldn't contain my excitement! Tom also saw that the Boddah was on the same train as we were, only a few seats back! w00t! More to come!

I only went to HWN one day (which I severely regret, I was kicking myself for not going both days after discovering what an amazing park it is!). I went 4 other times, so I definitely came out ahead!

A big part of that may be because KI got a new coaster. CP didn't have anything new going on.

Yesterday, I got my Cedar Point Getaway Guide in the mail. The guide comes with 2 full sheets of coupons, and I'm probably not going to use half of them. The coupons I'm not going to use are: six $5 off 1 day Starlight admissions to Cedar Point, valid any day of the operating season (Starlight pricing starts at 5 pm on days the park closes at 10 pm or later, at 4 pm on days the park closes before 10 pm, and at 6 pm during Halloweekends Fridays) one $3 off 1 day admission coupon good for up to 4 people at Michigan's Adventure one $4 off 1 day admission coupon good for up to 4 people at Geauga Lake's Wildwater Kingdom one coupon for a free kids meal at Game Day Grille at Cedar Point two $10 off 1 day admission coupons good for up to 2 people at Soak City at Cedar Point one buy one get one free ticket to Challenge Golf at Cedar Point one buy one get one free ticket to Challenge Go-Kart Racing at Cedar Point one coupon to receive a rate as low as $129 at Cedar Point's Sandcastle Suites between May 14 and June 3 one coupon to receive a rate as low as $159 at Cedar Point's Sandcastle Suites between June 4 and June 24 one coupon to receive a rate as low as $129 at Castaway Bay between May 14 and June 14 one coupon to receive a rate as low as $99 at Castaway Bay between November 5 and December 30 one coupon to receive a rate as low as $129 at Castaway Bay between January 2, 2011 and May 6, 2011 one free coupon for a free Castaway Bay Day Pass after enrolling your child (12 or under) in the birthday club at castawaybirthdayclub.com If any of you are interested in any of these coupons, please feel free to contact me. I will be happy to give them to you, or if you want them badly enough, I will happily mail them to you. I surely don't want almost an entire page of coupons to go to waste.

I live 250 miles from the park and I'll be a second year season passholder.. I went 5 times last year including HoliWood Nights and closing day! giga, who is one crazy girl

I'm a platinum passholder again this year (I had a MAXX pass in 07, and platinum for the last 3 years). It works for me since I never know when I'm going to another CF park. I used it to get in to KD and Carowinds earlier this month, I've already used it twice at KI, plus I just love Cedar Point, and I'm hoping to make it to Worlds of Fun and Dorney Park this year, along with a definite re-visit of KD. I'm also a SFOG season passholder (hoping to hit SFOG again this year along with SFSTL, SFGAdv, and SFGAm.. maybe SFNE and SFA if it's in the cards!), and I plan to buy a Holiday World season pass this Saturday!