Rustbucket

I usually stay near Short Pump or just north of I-295 and I-95. KD has ERT with Volcano and some times I-305 at 10 am.

I was limiting myself to 3, but ............. SFGAd add Bizarro Hershey add Great Bear Kings Dominion add Dominator BGE add Verbolten It is impossible!

Crypt fire effect was definitely in use last Friday.

Impossible choice for me. I grew up going to Hershey and Kings Dominion. SFGAd: El Toro, Batman, and Nitro Hershey: Skyrush, Stormrunner and Lightning Racer Kings Dominion: Volcano, Intimidator and Grizzly BGE: Apollo's Chariot, Apengeist, and Griffon Take a long break and visit them all!

They are about 4 hours apart. We just did both last weekend. Anyway, I would go to Kings Dominion. Fury 325, Intimidator, and Afterburn are quite good at Carowinds. Except for Fury, Intimidator and Afterburn are similar to Diamondback and Raptor. You can experience that at KI and Cedar Point easily enough. Fury is the reason to go to Carowinds. As for KD, Intimidator 305 and Volcano are really unique. In fact, Volcano is one of the most unique coaster in the world. If you liked King Cobra, Shockwave is a really treat. For me, Dominator is the best floorless coaster around. Grizzly was the first wooden coaster I ever been on, so that it will always be in my heart. It was also my first opening day coaster in 1982. Intimidator 305 is my third favorite coaster and probably the most intense coaster I have ever been on. I like this Intamin coaster much better than MF. Drop Tower at KD does not rotate but has same height as the one at KI. Overall, you cannot go wrong with either. Enjoy either park you choose. One suggestion is that try to get to Busch Garden Europe near Richmond, VA if you choose KD. This park is worth visiting.

Nice meeting you also. It was good 2 days of coastering this weekend. We went over to KD as well. I ran into quite a few KIC people there this week. Fury 325 is definitely up there with the best of them. Glad everyone made it back safely.

Visited Carowinds again and rode Fury 325 again. The coaster did not feel as smooth as during the media day. It is possible due to pretty high wind though. Again, that first drop is extraordinary. I may put Leviathan drop into the tunnel is a bit better but what a drop. The lateral forces felt stronger than last week for some reason. Interestingly, the coaster seems to scare away quite a few riders. There were many to got off the ride after seeing the coaster coming down the first hill.

Probably Banshee. I rode Banshee around 550 times. I rode Diamondback around 300. I will definitely go on Drop Tower at least 450 times this year for even 10000 times.

I am sure that there will be many people at Carowinds this weekend. I just hope that it is not like KI opening day last year!

Going back there this weekend. Anyone going there this weekend?

Technically, Firehawk or Nghthawk do not ALWAYS have complete circuit. Anyway, Fury 325 has the highest coaster with a lift hill. It is not the longest, fastest, or highest coaster.

MF actually valleyed last year, too.

Friday night in early May is not very busy. I rode Banshee 15 times in one Friday in May. Saturday, however, can get rather busy. The Fast Pass may be worth it but this does not cover everything unless you get the Fast Pass Plus. On Friday, I recommend going to Diamondback and then The Beast. I recommend the very back of Diamondback and the middle row of the last car on The Beast. BTW, welcome to 100 club. Walk over to Back Lot Stunt Coaster and Vortex. After that go to Flight of Fear and Firehawk area known as X-Base. You may still have time to ride The Racer and Adventure Express. Make sure to ride The Beast after dark. This time try for the very front. On Saturday, morning go to Banshee. If you have platinum passes, get there by 9:30 am. The park is open for early rides. You can get at least 3 rides on Banshee before 10 am. After Banshee, go to Invertigo and Bat. If you like any thrill rides, make sure to ride the Drop Tower and Delirium. They are extremely thrilling flat rides. This should cover all of the "Adult" coasters. Planet Snoopy area has 4 coasters (some will say 3 roller coasters and 1 "power" coaster ). You can ride them except for Great Pumpkin coaster. Boo Hill is a nice dark shooting ride which is located next to Woodstock Express. This coaster is one of the gems at Kings Island. This still has old style lap bars. Diamondback, Banshee, and The Beast are high capacity rides that are quite probably the best three coasters in the park. The other two "must" are Firehawk and Flight of Fear which are low capacity coasters that will have long lines. Enjoy your time at Kings Island! I may see you there. Can someone confirm that Holiday World still has a discount if you bring a Pepsi can?

I did not notice any rattling in the back. It was very smooth in the front. Actually, it thought it was TOO SMOOTH! The front half turns were quite forceful though. This may have been mistaken for rattling. Only thing that concerned me was that the force of the ride may have been causing the wheel on the right side of the wheels to get softer. During the final turn into the station after the break run, there were some squeaky sounds after about 2 hours. I am not certain about this but there may be some issue with wheels once the weather gets hot.

Actually, this has everything. There are laterals on each turn and hill on first half, and 4 very strong air time hill in the second half. One of them is very unique. It goes from 90 degree turn into dive drop under a bridge with a floater air. There is a trim before a good floater. The air time hill after that is very strong floater / ejector air that is really, really good. The last air hill is also very good. Of course, the first drop............Oh man that drop................. It is a speed machine, but do not expect this to be Millennium Force. Fury 325 has so many more elements than MF. All of the forces (lateral, negative G, and positive G) with this ride will provide a complete coaster experience.

The differences were ENORMOUS. Frankly, I will rate 8-4 > 7-4 > 8-3 > 6-4 > 7-3... I think you get the picture. Yes, the left side is so much better. The back has so much more lateral and negative G than front. For me, there was no question. The 8-4 is the best.

Fury 325 Media day was as good as any media day I have been on. It was very well done. As I parked the car and walked toward the newly renovated entrance (which looks like Cedar Point entrance), I ran into Dan Helbig and said hello. After the ceremony, we finally got to ride Fury 325. My seat for auction was train 2 7-1. The lift hill was considerably faster than Diamondback and faster than Leviathan. The drop........... Oh that drop........... I will be dreaming about that tonight. First part of the ride was quite twisty with strongest lateral force I experienced on any B&M coaster including inverts. Some of the turns felt quite intense. Unlike Intimidator 305, the laterals were quite comfortable. The favorite part of the first 1/2 was a dive hill with good air time going under a bridge. After another 90 degree turn, there was a dreaded trim. The air time on the following hill was quite nice. After a turn, there was a slow head chopper followed by the strongest air hill that rivals any B&M coasters I have been on. After another small turn, there was another air time hill that was not as good as previous one. The break run ended the ride. I am not ready to say this beats Bizarro, yet. I will say this is better than Leviathan. I ended up riding 21 time. The best seat by far was 8-4. Don Helbig agreed with me. I skipped lunch provided by the park and rode the coaster. The event ended around 3 pm. Overall, this was quite a turn out for one of the best coaster I have ever been on.

Are you going to be at the event?

Just 3 hours to go.....

Really? KD and Carowinds just got major upgrade on their waterparks.

I will post the review next Wednesday. The auction event will begin at 10:30 am on 3/25.

Well, I have ridden TTD.... That coaster is a lot of fun. Fury looks fun, but doesnt seem to offer up a largely different experience than other coasters I have ridden.... so for me I can confidently say without a doubt, that TTD may/should/probably could be more fun than Fury..... Well, I will not comment on anything that I have not been on. Having said that I prefer Magnum XL-200, Maverick, and MF (in that order) more so than TTD. WIth that logic, TTD is just a taller version of Xcelerator with one less element. An 18 second ride is not what I generally prefer over a 3 minute ride.

Nothing is going to stop that. (bad pun)

Ahh. Massless, frictionless pulley problems. I love it. It was so much easier back in high school days......

Interesting. They are testing Intimidator right now.