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ziplock

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Everything posted by ziplock

  1. There is another app on the App Store called "Ride Hopper" that is essentially the same concept as Ride Watch, but for a variety of parks. Unfortunately, because the program lacks users, most parks are rarely updated. The app is useful however, when visiting more popular parks like Six Flags Magic Mountain.
  2. I always use Ride Watch on my Cedar Point trips. And despite the fact that anyone can submit any wait time they want, the posted times are surprisingly accurate. It is a very useful factor in planning the day. There are also quite of few users of the app, so a good majority of the attractions do have fairly recent wait time updates.
  3. El Toro is my favorite by far. The relentless ejector airtime is superior to ANY other wooden or steel coaster I have experienced. However, I have not yet visited Holiday World and given The Voyage a try.
  4. Different parks and coaster clubs use "ERT" differently. It can be meant as "Early Ride Time", "Exclusive Ride Time", or "Extra Ride Time". All three essentially have the same meaning.
  5. "Exclusive Ride Time (ERT) - The term used by coaster clubs to describe the exclusive period of time where only members may ride the thrill ride or roller coaster. ERT usually occurs before the park opens or after the park closes." http://www.ultimaterollercoaster.com/coasters/glossary/#e
  6. Hello, I would definitely invest in a Flash Pass if I were going on those days. Early to mid July is one of the most crowded times of the year, and even on weekdays the lines can be brutal. A gold level Flash Pass will likely be the way to go, as the regular level keeps you waiting as long (and sometimes longer) than the actual line. If you do decide to buy the Flash Pass, rushing to rides first thing in the morning is unnecessary because a good majority of their roller coasters and thrill rides are available on the Flash Pass. If you choose to not buy the the line skipping device, I would recommend getting on the low capacity and more popular rides first, like: -Bizarro. This coaster is so popular that it almost always has a line even when running two trains. Most park goers will dash directly towards the ride at opening, so if you don't get a Flash Pass, it is essential to head directly to it at rope drop. Bizarro really is a must ride. -Goliath. This is the parks latest coaster, and because it is a Boomerang style layout, it is only compatible with one train. The combination of these two makes for an extremely long queue. -Gotham City Gauntlet Escape from Arkham Asylum. It is relatively new and is a Wild Mouse coaster which means only 4 people per car. -Mind Eraser. Despite the fact that the ride is a Vekoma SLC, a ride type that I do not find at all enjoyable, the general public seems to really like it and therefore it often has some long waits. -Pandemonium. This is another four people per car coaster so expect some long waits on this one without a Flash Pass. I am sorry but I cannot help you on what the best place to eat is. When visiting amusement parks, I almost always eat at Panda Express. Knowing that, you probably wouldn't want my opinion on food anyway. Like I said earlier, the crowds will be quite heavy on the possible days you are visiting. However, as much as everyone hates hearing this, the amount of people that show up on any given day is greatly affected by the weather. There is no way to precisely predict how crowded it will be, but since it will be early July I would estimate that more popular rides like Bizarro will have waits ranging from 1 and 1/2 to 2+ hours. I would highly recommend to buy a Flash Pass during that time a year. It makes the overall experience much more enjoyable and relaxed. Let me know if you have any more questions, and have a Six Flags day!
  7. Generally, I ride all launched coasters, inverted or suspended coasters, or any other coasters with inversions (with the exception of 4th dimensionals) in the front seat. Otherwise I ride any giga coasters, hyper coasters, wooden coasters, and of course 4th dimensional coasters in the very back seat. If the ride is a flying coaster, mine train coaster, or any other non-inversion coaster under 200 feet, I just ride wherever has the shortest line, as the ride experience, in my opinion, is the same in all seats.
  8. Six Flags Magic Mountain- X2 (Straight up intensity from start to finish. Drop has superb negative g's, and the rest of the ride beautifully combines the rotating seats with the layout full of twists turns and hills. It is truly a masterpiece of a coaster.) Six Flags New England- Bizarro (Has the most ejector airtime I have ever experienced. Every hill literally throws you against your lap bar throughout the entire ride. Combine this with fire, a soundtrack, and lighting and fog effects and you have one big adrenaline pumping thrill machine on your hands.) Cedar Point - Millenium Force (If the height of this bad boy is not enough to scare you out of your wits, the death-defying drop and the wonderful mixture of positive and negative g forces are sure to provide an enjoyable ride every time.) Kings Island- Diamondback (Although I'm sure all of you know, it's almost impossible to go wrong with a smooth, air-time filled B&M hyper. I could ride this thing all day in the back seat. In fact, last summer with the Fast Lane, I did.) Six Flags Great Adventure- El Toro (Simply the smoothest, fastest paced, most airtime filled wooden coaster I've ever ridden. Similar to Bizarro at SFNE, this beast relentlessly throws you over every hill in serious ejector airtime.) Kings Dominion- Intimidator 305 (The crazy first drop on this monster is just the beginning of this truly disorienting experience. From the first "gray out-inducing" turn to the rest of the ground hugging ride, this Intamin giga just doesn't give up until the final brake run.) Carowinds- Intimidator (Again, you can't go wrong with a B&M hyper. Every hill brings a large portion of floater airtime, as well as the twisting hills bring an entirely new sensation.) Six Flags Great America- Raging Bull (Although slightly weakened by trims, the Bull still delivers a unique combination of positive g turns as well as that signature B&M touch of floater airtime.) Six Flags Over Texas- The New Texas Giant (With a steep, thrilling drop, extreme over banked turns, and a very smooth layout with excessive airtime, Rocky Mountain has in my opinion found a way to turn an old, rough wooden coaster into what should be the ideal model of a good coaster. They covered all necessary aspects of creating a ride that is sure to please, and I hope more of these transformations will appear in the future. Mt. Olympus- Hades (The excitement begins even before the first lift hill, but surely doesn't stop there. Despite being rough in some spots and an extremely poor capacity, this Gravity Group creation drops you into the world's longest underground tunnel, brings you up on the other side of the parking lot for a nice pop of airtime, only to bring you right back down again. Overall, Hades is a very extreme wooden coaster and it's underground tunnels are something unique that you surely do not see on a coaster every day.) Nickelodeon Universe- SpongeBob SquarePants Rock Bottom Plunge (I wasn't expecting much from this indoor park, but this was still a pretty fun little coaster. From the drop to the compact turns and inversions it is an overall enjoyable experience.) Indianapolis Zoo- Kombo. (Yes I've ridden this...)
  9. This is some great footage! It's always so nice to see some quality video of a wonderful park that I cannot often visit. Music selection is also superb. It fits the video rather nice, and I've always been a fan of Newsboys. Keep up the good work!
  10. It's too bad that Skillet won't be at the event this year. This summer they're taking some time off from touring to write more of their next album. It is still an incredible line up however. Family Force 5, tobyMac, and Switchfoot are some of my all time favorite musical groups. It may take some convincing to get somebody to drive me the whole 9 hours to get there!
  11. Very nice video! You have some great quality video and I love the music selection. Reminds me so much of my summer trip and makes me excited for next year's season.
  12. Although I rarely post on the forums here, I check KIC multiple times a day. I've read nearly every post on every new topic since I've joined. I think there are more people like me that are guests and not registered members, and thats why there seems to be such little posting at some times.
  13. I really want to go now that I see Family Force 5 is playing!
  14. During my "Cedar Fair Park Tour" this summer, I don't think I went to a single park without hearing some crazy story about "The" Son of Beast and the reason that it is closed.
  15. Thank you Interpreter. And I couldn't agree more. We rode front seat on both Maverick rides.
  16. Maverick was closed though at that time. And sorry I didn't know there wasn't a mid course on Magnum. I knew it was slowed down somehow though. I did ride Skyhawk on my second day of the trip, I don't why I forgot to mention that. No Wildcat or Blue streak though. We focused on the bigger attractions of the park.
  17. First off I'd like to apologize for taking so long to get this trip report posted. . Sorry for the length and let me know how it is ! Saturday, July 24th was the long awaited day for me. The start of the highly anticipated and well planned theme park tour. Being only 14, I rarely get a chance to travel these parks that I’ve always dreamt of visiting, and I was overjoyed by the fact that I finally got the opportunity to visit Cedar Point, Kings Dominion, and Carowinds for the first time. The Kings Island trip was just the icing on the cake to this trip, as I have been there two other times. The trip was intended to be a mostly fun trip, however my dad had incorporated some business in there as well so we were very busy the whole trip! We started driving on Thursday the 22nd from south central Wisconsin because we were to go to Lexington KY to do some working for my dad’s business on the 23rd and 24th. At around 1:00 on the 24th we left Lexington and started heading up north to Sandusky for our first park of the trip, Cedar Point. It had rained intermittently on the trip which we knew wasn’t a good sign for the rides being open, but I was determined to go especially after seeing the state of the Super 8 hotel we were staying at about 10 minutes from the park. We arrived at the park around 7:00 PM and went to go get our Platinum Passes processed. By the end of our trip, these Passes would have quite a bit of use out of them so it was a very worthwhile investment. While getting our passes processed we asked a couple employees if they had any idea about the rides being open and they said that most of them were temporarily closed during the storm. For this night on the 24th I had one goal and one goal only, to ride Millennium Force. I didn’t care how long the line might be, of all the rides of our trip this is the one I was looking forward to the most. As you might expect, Millennium Force was closed and there was a very long line out of the entrance of people waiting for it to open. Did this stop me? No. I was on a mission to ride it even if would be the only ride of the night. We waited about 30 minutes for it to open. With people cheering when each and every test train going by. Once the ride opened, I was surprised of how fast the line moved. However once we got to the last covered back and forth line section before the ramp to the station, it started raining again. At first it started off light and then got heavier and heavier until it was pouring down rain and lightning too. Although the portion of the line that most people were staying in was covered by one of those sun shades, everyone was still getting soaked. For 1 and a half hours we waited in the pouring down rain and lightning. Not one train was tested and people we’re getting worried that it wasn’t going to reopen that night since it was so late. By 10:00 PM the rain had mostly let up, but there was still lightning in the distance. Since everyone that had been on the uncovered ramp to the station when it started raining had left, those who were under the cover of the sun shades moved onto the ramp. About 15 minutes later they sent their first test train, which was welcomed by thunderous applause. 10 minutes after the first test run I was in line for my favorite seat on a majority of roller coasters, back seat. We had about a three train station wait until our train was secured and all clear to go. I was very excited. Probably the most I had ever been to ride a roller coaster. And Millennium Force did not disappoint. The tall and very fast lift hill first gives you a very nice overview of the lit park in the night, then throws you over the first drop for some serious ejector air in the back seat! After the insane first drop I was greeted by the best overbanked turn that I have been on and from there it was all intensity. Airtime, tunnels, speed, and high g turns make this ride amazing. And a backseat ride at night after waiting ever so long for it to open? Spectacular. This ride experience is the second best experience I have ever had on a ride. But it is my third favorite roller coaster I’d ridden and still holds that place. By far the best roller coaster of the trip. And how long did I wait total? 2 and a half hours, and it worth every second of it. Ride Rating 10/10! After getting off that ride we walked past the entrance again to see how long the line was. It was only halfway up the ramp to the station! We waited a minuscule 15 minutes to get ride back on the back seat of the train. The ride op asked us how we got on so fast and we told him the line wasn’t long due to people leaving from the rain storm. I’m not sure if he thought we line jumped or something, but I was just glad to get back on the ride so fast! After experiencing the awesomeness that is Millennium Force TWICE we headed over toward the back of the park to see if Maverick was running. Nope the whole part of the park by Maverick was totally dead. No lights and no people. So we went over to see if Magnum was running. It was so we waited about two trains for back row. 10 minute wait! From how old I knew this coaster was, I thought it would a very rough ride like the typical Arrow loopers that I have ridden have been. I was really surprised surprised of how glass smooth this ride is! Sure it has some jerky transitions and restraints that brought pain to my legs, it was a good, airtime filled ride! The drop and pretzel turn were also very cool elements. 8/10 Good and has nice airtime, but quite painful on the legs in the hills after the MCBR! After the ride on Magnum it was rather late so we decided to head to the front of the park again expecting to leave. However we saw Power Tower running, and there was no line. Because I love Drop Towers and space shots, and because I knew that it would it would have a line the next two days, I decided to ride it then. Both sides were really cool but I love airtime and the feeling of zero g so I decided I like the turbo drop side a little better! On a flat ride rating I’d give Power Tower an 8/10. Its really cool but not as good as other space shot rides such as Superman: Tower of Power at SFOT. By this time it was nearly the 11:00 PM closing time, so we decided to head out back to the hotel to get some rest for another full day of roller coasting. We also hadn’t eaten in a good 11 hours and were very hungry in line for Millennium Force, so we were ready to leave for the night! At 8:40 the next morning we were on our way to the park again for the platinum pass early ride time. As soon as our passes were scanned, we jogged all the way to Millennium Force, expecting to get a couple rides on it before the majority of platinum pass holders and hotel goers showed up. We were greeted at the ride entrance by a park employee and a large crowd of angry visitors. They told us that Millennium Force had been struck by lightning the previous night and won’t open until later on in the day. They also told us that Top Thrill Dragster had been struck by lightning three times, and it will be down for most of the day. Knowing that Maverick was the only more popular ride that was open, we ran to it, trying to utilize whatever early ride time we had left. Of course since the other two most poular rides weren’t open, Maverick’s line was longer than expected. From the time we walked into the entrance to the time we boarded the front seat of the Maverick train was about 1 hour. Maverick is a very cool ride. The intensity starts just out of the station, as the launch hill throws you over the 95 degree drop, then the ride is pure twisty madness until it sends you through a surprising forceful 70 miles per hour launch. After the launch, the twisted inversions just continue until the final brake run. Maverick packs a big punch for such a small ride. Second best ride at Cedar Point and second best ride of the trip. 10/10 After finally getting on a single ride, it was nearly 11:00 so we decided to go to Mean Streak and beat the crowd to its opening. Since my dad doesn’t like wooden coasters, I waited by myself about 10 minutes for it to open, then got right onto the ride. Mean Streak is one rough ride. The drop and some of the hills are good, but overall the ride is jerky and rather boring. 5/10 I wouldn’t wait any longer than 5 minutes to get my brain rattled again on this one. We then went to Gemini and waited about 10 minutes to get on the train that the coaster enthusiasts weren’t riding. Gemini is surprisingly smooth and has some nice airtime as well. It also was slightly jerky in the transitions though. Gemini reminded me a a much more tame version of maverick in a way. 7/10 After Gemini we headed back out to our car for some lunch. We packed a cooler and a lot of water in it and made frequent visits to the car every day to stay hydrated. It was around noon and this time and Millennium Force and Top Thrill Dragster were still closed. However, while were eating we say two Dragster Trains and a couple more Millennium Force trains testing. So after lunch we rushed right to Dragster to see a line forming right outside the entrance, but the ride still closed. We waited for dragster to open for about 30 minutes, but decided that we didn’t want to waste our precious time at Cedar Point waiting for a closed ride so we headed over to Disaster Transport. While DT isn’t the most thrilling ride built, I find it pretty neat that it’s an inclosed bobsled and it was still a fun ride. We waited about 20 minutes because of its low capacity. 6/10 While we were in the area we decided to check out maXair. I had already ridden Delirium, but I wanted to see how the two compared. We waited about two cycles to get on the ride. I must say, I love these types of rides. The negative g forces on the swings are cool, and you also get great views. 8/10 on a flat ride scale. After maXair, we decided to head over to WindSeeker and Wicked Twister. We waited about 15 minutes for WindSeeker, and about 20 for Wicked Twister. WindSeeker is an underestimated little ride. Just the mere height of the ride is freaky, but let alone be spinning at relatively high speeds makes this a worthwhile tme investment in your day. I also enjoyed the views from the top. 7/10 I knew what to expect from Wicked Twister since I’d been on V2 at Great America. I love the launch of these twisted impulse coasters and the twist on the back spike just adds to the overall enjoyment. 8/10. Very nice, but my no means a top ten coaster. From here we went to the high capacity B&M invert that looms over the entrance of park, Raptor. we waited about 10 minutes for front row. Now I’m not the biggest fan of inverted coasters, but I still enjoy them. Raptor surely rises above the B:TR clones. It was my favorite inverted coaster to this day, but would be beat twice later on in the trip. 8/!0. I love the height, drop, and pure twisty-ness of this ride. We made a quick trip back to the car for water to see that Millennium Fore was finally running. It was about 6:00 PM by this time and Top Thrill Dragster was still closed. I was getting concerned that I wouldn’t get a ride on it! We decided we needed to get another night ride on MF, but it wasn’t quite dark out yet so we rode other rides in that general area until then. First up was Mantis. We went for front row and waited about 15 minutes. I’ve never liked stand ups because they hurt my legs, but I tried it out anyway. It’s worth a ride, but I definitely would not re-ride. It was rather painful actually so I’d rate it 5/10. It has a trim brake on the drop. Ruined the best part. I was curious about what people hated so much about Iron Dragon so we went over to check it out. We waited 10 minutes to get in the middle of the train. All I can say is definitely like Flight Deck and Ninja more than this as far as Arrow suspended coasters. It’s jerky and rather slow. 5/10. I can see it as a nice starter coaster for a beginner in thrill seeking, but nothing more than that. By this time is was getting darker so we got in line for a ride on Millennium Force. About an hour and 15 minutes later we were in the front row ready for take of. Another amazing ride on an awesome coaster. However the wait time was extended due to mechanical issues. This Cedar Point trip was severely plagued by “Inta-fails”. The Intamin rides, which are the best in the park, just could not stay open. All three of them were down for a good majority of our visit. This increased ride wait times and irritated many guests. I got to see several visitors angrily state to a park employee that it is “The worst costumer service of any park they’ve gone to”. I felt bad for the employees that were told to stand by a closed ride and explain to angry crowds why it wasn’t open. After that rid on Millennium Force, it was around 8:30 and we were starting to see test trains on Top Thrill Dragster! We speed walked over to entrance to see that the line was 1 and a half hour. We weren’t going to pass up on possibly our only opportunity for a ride on TTD so we got in line. The line only would’ve been about an hour, but again it went down several times while in line for it. We had originally planned to ride front row for this night ride but after seeing front row riders wipe countless dead bugs off their face in the brake run, we settled fro second row. Wow this is a rush. It’s just pure insanity from the first intensely forceful launch to plummeting 420 feet back to the ground into the break run. It’s even better at night. 10/10 Better than Kingda Ka because it has lap bar restraints and isn’t as rattly. By the time we were off TTD, the park was nearly closed so we left early so we could get an early start on the next day. We arrived fro ERT again on that Monday morning, and speed walked over to Millennium Force. We got a front row ride within 10 minutes of entering the line, and decided to get another quick ride on MF while the crowds still hadn’t arrived. However, when we were next to board the back row, the ride went down. It was another 30 precious minutes of ERT wasted from a ride being down, but we stayed and rode anyway. We rushed on over to Top Thrill, hoping to get in line before the general crowds stampeded in. We waited around an hour for an amazing front row ride TTD. After riding those two we decided to hit the road to go to Doswell, VA for Kings Dominion... Thanks for reading. I'll have the other parts of my trip posted as soon as I can!
  18. I think it will be Iron Wolf relocated from Six Flags Great America
  19. A couple days ago I got the opportunity to ride The New Texas Giant at Six Flags Over Texas. I had never ridden it in its original state, but from the reviews I read, I heard it was painful and not the best wooden coaster out there. The new upgrade to the ride was spectacular. It is butter smooth and full of exciting twists, turns and lots of airtime. The thought occurred to me that if the Rocky Mountain treatment turned Texas Giant into a world class ride, think of what it could do with Son of Beast. Son of Beast is taller, faster, longer, and has even more potential than Texas Giant did in its original form. I know this has been mentioned before, but I think that if the park invested the money for a Rocky Mountain treatment of Son of Beast, it could be one of the most popular coasters in the park.
  20. I got over 6,000 at the Boo Blasters at Kings Dominion! The ride broke down and we were stuck for 10 minutes with the targets still on. We ended up having to evacuate the ride...
  21. This new coaster will definitely get me visiting Hershey next year. I wanted to go with the already impressive line up of coasters they had before this, and SkyRush just seals the deal.
  22. ziplock

    Windseeker

    It is impossible to notice if there is a speed difference at all. I went on both last week and they feel exactly the same. Maybe someone else could correct me if I'm wrong...
  23. Perfect example of the target market for this product, and it appears to be doing what it is intended to do from your experience. Living in Wisconsin, it is a very uncommon thing to make trips to Kings Island regularly. I have the same point of view as the typical park visitor that just wants to visit the park and not have to waste their time and money waiting in line during their precious, rare vacation time. On another note, when using the Fast Lane, some of the employees would ask if we had comments on the system, and they were writing them down. They're definitely tracking what people think of it, but it seems they're only tracking the opinions of people that are using the product. Of course the users of the Fast Lane like it. It cuts all the lines for all the most popular attractions. They really don't take note of how the non users feel about the system.
  24. I used the Fast Lane system today on my yearly trip to Kings Island. I'm sorry to those who despise the system, but I found it to be very useful for someone who rarely comes to the park and wants to ride a lot of the rides. Without it, I never would have ridden even half of the rides that I had anticipated on riding since my trip last year.
  25. I really enjoy both parks. However X2 is my favorite over Millennium force and the 100 other coasters I've ridden. Different people have different opinions on rides, so coasters like Millennium and X2 are both top five rides for me, but they cannot be compared. They are a completely different type of thrill. X2 is all about the intensity and special effects, while Mellennium has the speed and height. In my opinion though, Cedar Point is the better over all park, because it has a great variety of world class that could stand alone as a headliner of their own park. Both parks are amazing in their own unique ways.
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