Eastern conference/coaster trip 6/22-6/27

[touchdown62]

Ok, now that I've recovered from my trip to Philadelphia for my conference, I think I'll post some pics about my experience and conquests. I'll do this in parts, since a lot happened in a week.

I drove from Muncie to Philadelphia so I could go visit a couple coaster parks. On Saturday the 26th, when the conference was over, I drove to New Jersey and went to Six Flags Great Adventure. I have never been there before, so I was looking forward to riding some new coasters. I was a little apprehensive about El Toro after Dave told me he just fit on it when he went, and I'm bigger than he is. There's also this skyscraper I wasn't too thrilled about... at first.

After I was able to print my prepaid tickets at the new kiosks they have and got a map, I decided to start like I used to when I first started going to Kings Island, slow and work my way up. I decided to hit Rolling Thunder and the Runaway Mine Train.

Eeesh. Big difference from classic old coaster to the modern woodies and steelies.

This is a nice way to start the day. It's a fun little racing coaster. At first it wasn't racing, because only one side was open. After waiting in a line that hardly moved for about 15 minutes, the second side opened up, and I ended up going on the second train of the day on that side. Yee Haw. This is a fun little coaster, nothing too strenuous. Coming back into the station, I realized that perhaps that side should not have opened up yet. The restraints wouldn't release, even with repeated attempts from the dispatcher. I don't think the ride needed back-to-back circuits.

Next, while I was in the area, I went on

Chugga chugga CHOO CHOO (I would shoot myself if I had to say this over and over again all day long)

This is an all-steel Arrow mine ride. They also played Indiana Jones in the queue. This ride is way more intense IMO than Adventure Express. The turns aren't quite as jerky, but the turns pull more lateral G's than AE. Even with the G's, this ride wasn't overly intense. Still a good warm-up ride.

RMT's lift hill

I was ready for some more intense rides, and Bizarro was right there.

Bizarro's batwing roll.

This is a B&M floorless coaster that has nonstop thrills. There are loops, corkscrews, zero-G rolls, twists, and turns for the whole ride. There are no breaks. Some places on the ride shoot out fire, others spray you with water, so the ride is more than just speed, inversions, and turns. It's a multi-faceted attack on the senses. It's not a hyper, giga, or strata, but I absolutely loved this ride. This ride was so smooth as well. I didn't know it at the time, but judging by the sound and smoothness, I knew this was a B&M. Looks like Diamondback has a stellar future to look forward to.

Last coaster in the area was El Toro. Based on what I heard about the fit, I tried the test seat, once I got the little kids out of it. First challenge was the seat belt. Pretty small. I inhaled deeply, got it to click, and was able to get the threads to show as required. One down, one to go. Now had to get the lap bar down to where the light changed from red to green. Started bringing it down, got it against me, and pushed with all the leverage I had. Here's the weird part... I got the red light to go out, but the green light didn't come on. A security guard was right there, and I asked about it. She said the green light had to go on. Sometimes the ride ops will push, so I asked her to push. She gave a little nudge, really stapled me in, but the green light came on. I decided to give it a try.

What a drop. I better fit. Not waiting for a half-hour just to do the WOS.

Waited in line, got to the platform, picked a row that looked like it had a bit more room, and waited. When it was my turn to load up, I saw the same security guard from the test seat, and went to the side she was on, in case I needed a push. I buckled up, took a deep breath, and stapled myself as hard as I could. A manager who was working the ride was checking the seats and got to me. He checked, then looked at my lap bar for a LONG second, then moved on. I WAS IN!! This is a big wooden coaster. 181-foot lift hill, 176' drop, 70 MPH. This thing had a fast lift. It wanted to get to the top in a hurry. OMG. This is what a big wooden coaster should be. 76-degree first drop right into a steep second hill. This coaster has what could easily be described as ejector air. Watching trains go over the second hill while waiting in line, I saw sunglasses and hats fly off almost every time. For as big and as fast as this wooden coaster is, it is tremendously smooth and very exciting. High-G turns, ejector air on the hills, and high speeds. Can't beat this woodie. This ride is so much above and beyond Son of Beast and Mean Streak. Someone get on the horn with Intamin and bring something like this to KI, after the big weenie roast, of course.

Geez Louise!!

Now that I was in total coaster mode, I next went to the Great American Scream Machine. First thing I thought when I saw it was SHOCKWAVE!!! Shockwave at SFGAm was the coaster where I decided I wasn't going to be afraid to go upside-down. No, I wasn't dropped on my head as a baby, I went down the stairs in my walker and ended up on my head. Someone forgot to close the toddler gate. ANYWHO...

Ooo look at the kitty.

I shall name him Inchy. He was a bit camera shy.

Parachute drop. Didn't go. No fun without Beast1979 making me go on it.

Ahhh, there we go.

Lift hill

WHEEEEE loop-dee-loop-dee-loop-dee-omg stop the world, I wanna get off.

7 inversions, but I like the layout of Vortex better. At least GASM isn't sinking

Saw this and had to take a picture. So many jokes...

Ooooo this can only mean one thing...

BATMAN!!!

Nice view

Get ready....

WHEEEEEE!!!!!!!!

I loved this ride at SFGAm when I rode it during its first year. I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong, but this ride has the same layout as the one in Illinois. I loved it here just like I did there.

After that, I stayed with the Batman theme...

The Dark Knight. I was looking forward to this ride, thinking it would be as bad-a$$ as the movie. The experience starts out in a room with a news conference by Harvey Dent that gets interrupted by the Joker. Why so serious? You then get led to the loading platform. This was the only exciting part of the ride. There's a live video screen showing all the riders as they walk onto the platform. It has a program that puts a Joker gang clown mask over each face as it passes in front of the camera. Very cool. The ride vehicle is a car with 2 rows, sent in quick succession. Looks like it could be a fun ride. Nope. Very disappointing. It's a Wild Mouse ride, and presumably, it's supposed to feel like you're being chased by Joker's gang or something like that. I was not impressed. I liked the Wild Mouse aspect of the ride, but combined with the theming, it was quite lame.

Next in the area was

Another potential tight squeeze in the test seat. Restraints are similar to DB's, considering it's another B&M hyper. Not sure enough of the yellow line was showing. Went for it anyway. Very glad I did. This ride was quite exciting, with lots of speed, lots of hills, and lots of airtime. There's even an overbanked, er, I mean, Hammerhead turn. Diamondback has more airtime, but Nitro has plenty of airtime of its own to make it a very exciting ride. I missed the splashdown, though.

I had time for a couple more rides before my self-imposed curfew. I was going to try to get to Pittsburgh that night and spend the night before continuing my trip home. I passed

Eh, it was a nice little indoor coaster. No inversions, not very fast, but I was dark. I like that about indoor coasters. It makes it a little more exciting when you can't see where you're going. Has a bit of an annoying strobe light towards the end, but that's really the only special effect on the ride. At least it added to my coaster count.

Rode the Skyway to the other side of the park. This sky ride actually makes sense because you cover a lot of ground. This comes in handy on a hot, sticky day.

Yikes

Mr. Turtle's my father. Name's Crush. Ok, maybe not exactly a sea turtle, but seemed appropriate nonetheless.

Ok, it was gut-check time. For some reason, I actually found myself drawn to this

What the hell am I thinking? This is my fear. I don't like heights, and here I am actually thinking about going on the biggest there is. I was talking myself INTO riding this thing. WTF?!?!?! Come on, it's over before it starts. You're not actually falling 456 feet. It's only like 300. While you're falling straight down, the track twists 270 degrees. You'll never know you're falling. Just suck it up and do it. You can't call yourself a coaster enthusiast or a ride warrior if you won't go on a ride like this.

I was actually saying those things to myself. Mysteriously I found myself walking into the queue. It was almost an out-of-body experience. I didn't even have Jackson pulling on my arm to go on it. I walked through the line, got in a spot for 1 of the 4 trains, manned up, and got on the thing. Here's proof:

No, I am not smiling at the launch. I was white-knuckled on the grab bar and gritting my teeth. The category 3 hurricane did the rest. My eyes, however, were actually open, but was trying to cut the wind a little bit.

The speed wasn't a big issue, but the rocket launch was a bit scary. After the 90-degree turn, you go over the top hat. You maybe have a second to look around. You know you're really high, but you don't have enough time to actually think about how high you are before you start your descent. Yes, I was screaming on the drop, but after the 270-degree spin, you start to level out. Before we fully levelled out, I already threw my hands in the air and screamed like the Cubs just won the World Series. Hey, it can happen. After all, I just rode Kingda Ka and survived. With all the adrenaline coursing through me, my hands weren't just tingling, they were cramping. This was an easy call to make... I was done. There was no way to beat that.It was AWESOME!!! Off to Pittsburgh for the night and getting ready for another park before coming home. That report will come in a little while.

[sethdawg17]

Congrats on getting over your fear and on Kingda Ka! Definitely a coaster warrior for sure.

[CincyMan98]

I'll admit I'm not a Ride Warrior. TTD and KK are the only coasters I will NOT ride. I am totally afraid of heights. Millennium Force looks the highest I'll be riding.

Nice job pushing yourself to get on, I know I couldn't do it.

[sethdawg17]

Anyone who is afraid of heights just needs to think hey I need to do it and get it over with and I may like it. Close your eyes and just don't think about it.

[Guest Millennium]

Wow, great PTR! You just got me really excited for my trip in two weeks. Nitro, Bizarro, Kingda Ka, Batman: TR (my first of the clones), Superman (even though I heard it is lame), and EL TORO! Any tips?

[touchdown62]

Wow, great PTR! You just got me really excited for my trip in two weeks. Nitro, Bizarro, Kingda Ka, Batman: TR (my first of the clones), Superman (even though I heard it is lame), and EL TORO! Any tips?

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.

Anyone who is afraid of heights just needs to think hey I need to do it and get it over with and I may like it. Close your eyes and just don't think about it.

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.

[The Interpreter]

And you can leave your flip flops in the Nitro station and ride barefoot, if that is important to you!

Terp, who just HAD to, and who is on his way to work so can't add much more right now...but HAD to add that...

[Pillsberry123]

I haven't ridden Kingda Ka, but I can agree with you about the experience based on Top Thrill Dragster. When you're actually riding it the height is the LAST thing you're thinking about.

[Guest Millennium]

Thanks for the tips. I got the gold flash pass even though its a rip off- I won't be back for several years...

[Cormaster]

Great Trip Report and awesome pictures! I have to admit I'm kinda jealous, as I'd love to check out some other parks, but never have the time or money.

[touchdown62]

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.

[Adventure Express]

I LOVE the Kennywood trip report. I really hope that I get to make it out there next year.

[The Interpreter]

Awesome trip report for an awesome park! Thanks! Beautiful pics, too!

[Avatar]

Agreed, Great report I really enjoyed the read and pictures this evening thanks.

[touchdown62]

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.

[The Interpreter]

Be aware that Kennywood is no longer a family owned park. It is now part of an international corporate park chain:

http://www.parquesreunidos.com/

(Look at the park banners at the bottom of the page first. Then, if you want to peruse the site in English, click English at the top right).

In the US, this company likes to operate as Palace Entertainment:

http://www.palaceentertainment.com/pages/park.html

http://www.palaceent...pages/news.html

http://www.thepittsb...115/detail.html

This information is very difficult to find on the park's website and is seldom talked about by the park. Many of the long time employees were shown the door, as usually occurs in cases like this, including the longtime PR person, who was a truly a wonder.

And the park now even offers season passes. You have not seen the last of the many changes coming under this ownership. From time to time, this company operates as Palace Entertainment in English speaking countries. Note this is the company Al Weber worked for after leaving Paramount Parks and before becoming President and Interim CEO of Six Flags, replacing Mark Shapiro...