sheikra_rocks

2 things: 1. follow the rules. 2. just buy the photo if you want it.

Listen to Kumba at Busch Gardens. Agreed! Kumba has the best roar of the 30 B&M's I have ridden!

I still want a Tilt-a-Whirl!! It would fit perfectly in the area near Diamondback's transfer.

On Saturday morning, we arrived at the park around 8 am. We have a walkback tour of Leviathan, then ERT until 10 am on it and a couple other coasters. First we went under the loading station. Then we went out into the field beneath the coaster, where I was able to get this shot. and these by the drop support... and my favorite... What you don't see is a train rocketing down the drop, making this support vibrate, and the sound resonated inside the support so nicely! Looking up at a train dropping... Then a few geeky shots... Time to head over to the queue for our ERT session to begin. Notice how the support goes through the tent... So, ERT starts with myself and 4 others taking up the last 2 rows. I LOVE row 8 on the right hand side! ERT was on Leviathan, The Fly, and Thunder Run, and Silver Streak. We decided that we should ride Leviathan once, then go get the other ERT rides done, then finish the ERT session on Leviathan. FYI..... Leviathan is so much better than Millennium Force! We ride Leviathan once, then head over to The Fly. Although we got there slightly earlier than our ERT, the manager signed off on the ride, and allowed us to ride. Such a fun wild mouse style ride!. Then we take a ride on Thunder Run. A 2 cycle ride. When the train stopped, we discovered that no one was in the queue, so we went again. The ride ops did not even unlock, or recheck the restraints! It was literally, STOP and DISPATCH. After a quick restroom break, we made our way back to Leviathan. (Not sure the time now, but our ERT on Levi was until 10 am.) One other person in my group joined me for a mini marathon of Leviathan. We boarded the train in row 1. Upon our return, no one was in the station! My friend and I switch seats, and ride again in row 1. Upon our return this time, people were waiting for row 1. So we stepped off the train, and proceeded toward row 8. Here we found 2 people who allowed us to join them. After we return, the two ladies had had enough Leviathan and exited. No one was waiting for row 8, so we each got a corner. Me on my right hand side! We got a total of 11 rides in row 8! As our train pulled in to the station after our 9th ride in row 8, 2 other people from my group joined us. So, prior to riding Leviathan in the first place, I warned my group that by the time we were done, I would probably be a blubbering mess. Half way through the 10th consecutive ride, tears started to flow. I was so thrilled, and happy at this point. By this time, Regular guest have entered the queue. Restraints unlock, and locked again, then as the GP reached the top of the stairs, dispatch! The station crew pushed to get us one final ERT ride! That is 13 consecutive rides without leaving the station! More soon.....

Photos, or it isn't true. It's getting old please stop. Excuse you! What's getting old? I only made one post in response to the footers being removed, and even used a smiley to show that I was kidding around. Don't tell me to stop. I will go all Madea on you if it happens again.

At about 5pm on Friday, we enjoyed a complimentary buffet style meal. The venue was The Marketplace International Buffet. The buffet consist of tacos, pasta, pizza, brisket, salad, fruit, and desert. Recommend! Not sure in which order, but we caught Boo Blasters, Riptide, Dragon Fire, and Night Mares. Boo Blasters is incredibly slow loading. The vehicles travel on a single rail track, and hold 2 people. Some of the effects were not working properly. Some of the scenes are the same as KI. Skip it. Night Mares looks like a cross between a round up type ride, and an Enterprise. Great ride. Dragon Fire is your typical Arrow coaster. just as, if not more rough than KI's Vortex. Riptide is one of the best TopSpin type rides I have ridden! There are 2 rows that flip independently from one another. Beware, you do get wet! It is time for a show in the Wonderland Theater, however, I opt out of the show to hit up Leviathan a couple times. The queue was FULL, but I was able to ride twice in just under and hour. Once in the front, and once in row 8. So smooth, so fast. More on Leviathan later. By this time, it was time to meet at Dairy Queen in Planet Snoopy, to wait for our ERT session to begin on Ghoster Coaster and Taxi Jam. Ghoster Coaster is pretty much the same as Woodstock at KI. Got a double ride, then headed to Taxi Jam, which is the same layout, but has slightly larger hills than TGPC at KI. We all were treated to Ice cream cookie sandwiches, then headed to the opposite side of the park for Back Lot Stunt Coaster, (we were all calling it BackYARD Stunt Coaster...LOL) and Behemoth. Back Lot's show was turned off, and they were just using that area as a block brake. Still a fun ride, all 3 launches were a bit more powerful that BLST at KI. Next it was time for Behemoth again! I boarded the train in row 14 and stayed there for the remainder of the ERT session. I believe I got 6 rides in the same seat! I was also lucky enough to have timed it just right to be on the last train of the night. I still think that if Behemoth's second half was similar to Diamondback's it would have been better. Still a great coaster, but lacked the umph Diamondback has AFTER the MCBR. Was able to buy myself and a friend each a Leviathan shirt. PASSHOLDERS GET 15% off on merchandise, however, we all were given a coupon for Buy on get one 40% off, so I used it instead of my Platinum discount. Back to the hotel! Saturday TR coming soon!

Continuing on with Friday... After our single ride on Leviathan, we caught Drop Tower, Wild Beast, and Vortex. On Drop Tower, as you approach the top, the operator gives you the safety spiel. Once you stop, they proceed to say, "You will be dropping in 10, 9, 8...." DROP! This was a nice view of the park, and was quite a nice ride. Wild Beast was okay, nothing spectacular. It jackhammered and shuffled more than I would have liked, but what can you do, right? Next was Vortex (Flight Deck clone). Full queue, sticking out into the midway, aprox. 45 minute wait or less. I found CW Vortex to be faster, more intense, and slightly rougher than KI Flight Deck. The location for CW Vortex is much better than KI Flight Deck. It is located on the side of a hill, and rockets riders over a river. IF the train were to valley in this turn around, the cars would touch the water. Just goes to show, that location is key. After Vortex, WindSeeker was the next ride we encountered. This was a 2 or 3 cycle wait. (see first post for more.) Next up, was the Mighty Canadian Minebuster. I skipped this one since I had ridden the day before, and did not like it. (See first post.) I went around the corner to use the washroom, and to grab a snack. I tried the fresh-cut fries at "Hot Potato", which is literally right next door to WindSeeker. These fries were so much better than Rivertown Potato Works! They even have a seasoning shaker sitting out by the napkins for guests to use. Highly recommend these! After Minebuster, the group decided that it was time for lunch, or as Madea would say, "Lurnch". While everyone opted for Coasters (same menu as CP, although I heard CW was better.), I got a foot long smoked sausage from the stand adjacent to Hot Potato. Highly recommend! After lurnch, we decided it was time to head over to Behemoth. Along the way, we checked out Sledge Hammer. Sledge Hammer, is a really fun ride! TRY IT! On to the big boy on this side of the park. Behemoth was running great again on Friday. I had already ridden on Thursday, but I will definitely ride it as many times as everyone else wants to. LOVE B&M! Behemoth, RARELY stacks it's trains. By the time train 2 comes around the turn from the transfer, train 1 is being dispatched. I believe we queued for 35 minutes. Much better operations on Behemoth than Diamondback. (see first post.) To be continued.......

Also, you can see the actual track hanging from the sliding mechanism for the transfer!

The camera needs to be zoomed in a little. They need to have someone at the top of the stairs for crowd control. Canada's Wonderland is by far the best at everything they do to get their trains filled and dispatched in a timely manner.

I wish I was still there, and I will point out why in the next couple posts of my trip report later.

I am breaking this into several posts to make it easier to read. On Friday morning we went down to breakfast in the hotel lobby, then headed to the park for ACE registration and pass holder ERT. I have a Platinum, so I used that, but the park was gracious enough to let the ACER's in for pass holder ERT. Pass holder ERT was in the Planet Snoopy area of the park. While there was really nothing for the adults to ride without a child (that was operating), we decided to head over to wait with the non pass holders for my 30th coaster built by B&M, Leviathan. FYI, full queue to the station for Leviathan is only 30 minutes! Diamondback is 45 minutes with a full queue to the station. First train. Sadly, I was not on it. Kind of geeky shot. Going up! There's me in the Diamondback T-Shirt! My first ride on Leviathan! Row 8 is the sweet spot on Leviathan! More to come soon.....

WALL OF TEXT COMING... No complaining about the lack of photos! Most of the photos I took were of Leviathan, and Dinos. I was invited to join a friend as his guest to the ACE Summer Conference at Canada's Wonderland and Marineland this past weekend. I just could not say no! My friend and I arrived on Thursday evening in Toronto earlier than we expected, so we stopped off at Wonderland around 6:30 pm. We decided to head to WindSeeker to get a birds eye view and idea of the park layout. WindSeeker at Wonderland is in the best location. It is centered in the park, and you get a 360degree view of the entire park and surrounding area. They dispatched as we entered, and we were in the next ride cycle. My favorite of the 3 Seekers I have ridden. (Wonderland, Cedar Point, KI.) Next we hit the wooden coaster Minebuster and the Togo stand up, Skyrider. Minebuster was "okay". It shuffled between the rails quite a bit more than I am used to on say for example The Beast at KI. Other than the shuffling, it was a neat ride. 2 train wait. Upon boarding Skyrider, I had flash backs to KI 1996 where I took my first KI coaster ride on King Cobra. For those of you who do not know, Sky rider is an exact copy of KC from KI. However, I do believe Skyrider is smoother than KC. We had a 2 train wait for front seat. Next we head to Behemoth. The end of the line was only to the top of the stairs, so it was very short. 1 train dispatched before our ride in row 16. As you may know, Behemoth is the first B&M with the second generation hyper trains. I found Behemoth quite enjoyable, and loaded with airtime in row 16 during the first portion of the ride, which is better than Diamondback's first half. Diamondback's second half is better than Behemoth's second half (after MCBR). Behemoth is also a lot smoother than Diamondback, with very little shuddering. We no longer had phone service, so around 7:30 (yes, we rode 4 rides in an hour on Thursday) we headed to the hotel which was a 15 - 20 minute drive from the park, where we got a message from the rest of our group that their ETA would be around 9ish. darn! We could have gotten more rides! Oh well. Time for rest!

Photos, or it isn't true.

Jay, as you can see in this photo, the crane is sitting where the sliding transfer will be. The crane is lifting parts of the train maintenance / storage area into place. The station will be on the opposite side of the crane.

This is going to be a back seat ride like Montu!

It explains the reason for the dive loop instead of immelman first. The loop around the lift is nice, but I feel the effect they are going for is "looks cool". A loop like Kumba's has more of a head chopper effect. Also, did anyone notice in the POV that you will be face first toward concrete on the dive loop, (Unless they remodel that part like the remodeled The Beast Plaza beneath Diamondbacks final helix.)

Have you ridden Montu? Best inverted I have ridden!

Just got to Florida from Cincinnati, so I just logged onto https://www.visitkingsisland.com/# Did else anyone notice that the photo is mirrored?

I don't remember any fatalities on any Intamin coasters do you? Their coasters aren't made by people like the Dinn Corporation who lots of wood riders used to think had a flawless safety record until that awful Texas Giant incident. I didn't say "fatalities"... I said "mechanical". Big difference.

Intamin is number 1 for most mechanical downtime!

Clearmont Steel Fabricators....the place that manufactures most of B&M's roller coasters. Really...a Wing Coaster? That means something isn't right with the blueprints... Right. A wing coaster. Did you consider that the blueprints are false? They also do match up with some footers on Gatekeeper, as far as size and spacing are concerned. -T. Forsaken Dual footers do NOT say wing coaster. Footers do not say anything, they can not talk.

Did you fall and hit your head? Ride too many SLC's? If SLC's did not shuffle between the rails, they would be more enjoyable. I do have to say though, the SLC at SFNE was surprisingly not as rough as others I have ridden.

I forgot about that!

wouldnt putting a dive machine right next to Drop Tower be kinda redundant? Wouldn't putting a coaster that hangs below the track right next to 2 others that hang below the track be kinda redundant?

Going to take the whole capacity down a notch I see. Wild Eagle has 2 trains, but only enough room to put 1 train in the train barn. Gatekeeper has enough space for 3 trains, but only has 2 bays. KI2014 footers suggest there is room for 3 inverted or other trains in the maintenance shed, HOWEVER, 3 wing trains will not fit in that space. I do believe that 3 or 4 mini dive trains (Krake) would fit in there. I am still not convinced. I did point out the wide vertical loop which would be room for a dive machine or a wing coaster train. I still want a dive machine. LOVE hanging over the edge right before the drop! Let's face it, Ohio has just about every style of coaster EXCEPT a dive machine.