Hendrick

I've never been to Coney Island (I know, it's on the list) however I LOVE Stricker's. I can't say enough about that place. My first visit was 4 years ago now, and we've been twice a year ever since then (4H because of the lack of lines, and Customer Appreciation Day for free drinks/popcorn/cotten candy/snocones), and it's a 2.5 hour drive each way from where I live. I even convinced my sister to visit the park with her son, and they've been going every year too for the last 4 years. Going to Stricker's is one of my highlights every year over the summer. I think we might be going three times this year (4H, Labor Day, and Customer Appreciation Day), but we'll see how things play out.

This? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8t8j955Psfo

Is the special events center the building at the back of the exhibit? I would love to see the Cheetah's run, that would be cool.

Went yesterday evening at 5PM to check it out. 5PM was a great time to go, a lot of the people were leaving for the day so Heart of Africa wasn't crowded. I saw that they had Memorial Tournament parking at the zoo as well... I'm not sure who thought that would be a good idea with Heart of Africa opening as well as one of the first weekends for Zoombezi Bay. Area looked fantastic, but it was hard for me to tell if it was fully done. Looking through the cracks of some of the walls, I couldn't tell if they were continuing construction, or if it was simply where they construction equipment was parked. I'm not sure where that Cheetah picture was taken at, their enclosure seemed pretty small to me. The restaurant in Heart of Africa seemed to have really good prices for the zoo. It was $10 for an entree plus two sides. We also heard the male lion roar while we were there, that was really neat. Also, it appears Dippin' Dots have taken over at the zoo. They had stands everywhere.

I saw an ad last weekend in one of our newspapers (maybe it was with the Kroger ad) for Kentucky Kingdom... in Columbus OH.

Yeah, for lunch we had Pronto Pup and curley fries, and for dinner we had chicken tenders and mac & cheese. I think all of that, plus two drinks, was under $15.00. For Rattler, they had a bit of an issue with a few seats after the restraints were lowered, the green light above the seat wouldn't go on for a couple of people (it didn't appear to be a weight issue, simply the restraint wasn't locking.) After the third time, the ride operator went into the ride control shed, toggled a switch, and tried the restraints again. On the 4th time everyone finally locked. The ride was really fun, and looks like it was a great addition to the park! However they are still working on getting the actual queue ready, we had to wait on the piece of plywood covering the grass/mud. I read a few post that people had said the Big Dipper was really rough. Sure, the first mini drop moves you around quite a bit, but with the exception of that, I thought the ride ran great. The 2nd drop (1st one to go to the ground) really provides a nice moment of airtime in the back!

I just got back, had a lot of fun! Everything was open, including the train (was a lot of work on part of the rails by the exit of the tunnel, causing the ride not to open until about 3pm. It looks like they replaced a couple of yards worth of cross ties.) Where was the roller rink at? (I assume behind the train station?) Looks like the Spider cars are still on site in the shed by the train station. Is the station building for Big Dipper it's original station?

Going to Camden for the first time tomorrow. They have online tickets for $13.99, but there is $0.99 West Virginia tax and a $4.99 processing fee (at least for two tickets.) Two tickets came to around $35.00.

I'm guessing 66 days of hints/pictures starting on Monday...

Looks like original was made private, but here is it form Chance. Edit: Sorry for the double post. Apparently I forgot that I had just posted in this thread....

And shin restraints according to that video.

I thought I was alone on feeling that way. I think that these are the only two rides that have ever given me the feeling that I was out of control. (Although I haven't ridden nearly as much as others on here.)

I've never been, but I hope to go ether this year or next. How is their Whip? (It's the main reason I want to go.)

I went to Kennywood last year. It's an awesome park and I can't wait to go back! I love how their wooden coasters and Phantoms Revenge utilize the terrain so well!

Two questions: -Besides Banshee, did any other ride have FunTV? -Was the band organ working on the carousel?

I think the other difference from a few years ago is the park didn't say this year that ERT will be on Diamondback. A few years ago that wasn't necessarily the case. (This is in addition to malem's point, that Banshee will be much more of a "demanded" ride for people, as compared to WindSeeker.)

So this is where it started at. I saw the news on a few different websites this morning, and I was wondering the origin.

Glad to hear you guys are okay!

I'm assuming since you are going to media day that unless you are part of the media, you are in a coaster club. While I haven't heard anything yet for 2014, in years past showing your coaster club membership (if you were part of an approved group) would get you into ERT. You'll want to check with your coaster club and/or KI to see if this will also be the case in 2014.

How can you tell that a coaster is going to be rough based on an animated picture? The only thing you have to go off of is the manufacture. And to that I would say that RMC and RCCA could not be on more opposite ends of the scale.

I believe it also says that it can only be replaced once per year. I was reminded of that by an employee when I had to replace one a few years back. Just be extra careful with your new one.

Is it media day yet?

Construction gets annoying when they decide to reconstruct 17th and Woodruff Ave. at the same time (two parallel running streets in the heart of campus, as seen here.) But now that they are finished, walking along the street is much easier. It's amazing to me how fast those 4 years at OSU went by. If I had a long break between classes, I loved to go to Thompson Library to study (plus, there are outlets EVERYWHERE now, which is not the case in a lot of the older buildings.) The Physics Research Building was the other place I loved to study if I only had an hour or two between classes, simply because it's so close to all of my other classes. The biggest complaint I hear from people is that Ohio State is too big. At least for me, going through Computer Science and Engineering, all of my classes were within a few blocks of each other. With the exception of my one class that was in The Shoe, these are all of my classes for 4 years: http://i.imgur.com/Hentlu9.png Ohio State does a great job of keeping related programs close together (math and engineering for example.) There were a couple of quarters where I didn't even have to go outside (although I had to change buildings, they were connected.) I really want to walk through the new CBEC building once it's finished. Also, the Plain City Der Dutchman isn't too far away from Columbus. That might actually be dinner tonight...

This, this gives me hope that maybe one day, we'll see Racer look like this again.

Glad you're back Don!