DoomPlague
Members-
Posts
442 -
Joined
-
Last visited
-
Days Won
6
Content Type
Profiles
Forums
Events
Everything posted by DoomPlague
-
Discussing Land and Space in and around Vortex
DoomPlague replied to Klabergian Empire's topic in Kings Island
Personally, I feel like Banshee is enough of an inversion machine for the park, especially since most inversions...really aren't that great (and I say that as someone whose love of coasters began with Vortex). I would be a thrilled with a Mack Stryker though. Voltron is fantastic. -
Six Flags and Cedar Fair Merge
DoomPlague replied to IndyGuy4KI's topic in Kings Island Central Newsroom
Park burnout is definitely a thing. For me it's more specific to going to the same 2 Ohio parks for a few years and continually telling myself that I'll make it out to other parks. -
I saw that photo and thought, "Is that Kings Dominion?" then saw the ole' Potatoworks.
-
Six Flags and Cedar Fair Merge
DoomPlague replied to IndyGuy4KI's topic in Kings Island Central Newsroom
Yeah, that just makes more sense. Though I did recently update the KI app and it does have some nice improvements at least. I think we're getting ahead of ourselves. We don't know how the pricing will work. I'm sure it will go up at least a little but when you consider how cheap the All-Park Passport is, I don't think the pricing is based on the total number of parks but rather how many you are likely to visit in a year and how much you're willing to pay. The average passholder isn't travelling all over the country hitting other parks and the company knows that. -
Six Flags and Cedar Fair Merge
DoomPlague replied to IndyGuy4KI's topic in Kings Island Central Newsroom
Hopefully they have a "if its not broke don't fix it" attitude regarding the names. The top 3 seasonal parks, by attendance, are all Cedar Fair parks (including KI) while SF parks underperform when you consider their size, operating days and proximity to major metro areas. I would like to think the only CF parks in danger of getting branded are the small-to-medium sized ones. It could very well have the opposite effect. Why go to "Six Flags" on your trip when you have "Six Flags at home?" While the Six Flags brand isn't as tarnished to the gp as it is to enthusiasts, much of the public does see Six Flags rather generically. Trying to turn Six Flags into a trusty, reliable national brand has backfired, imo, and is not a great strategy to begin with when the experiences vary so wildly. -
Honestly, when I rode on June 19th I was surprised that I *didn't* feel that jolt before the first lift. I think I did notice the sound you were talking about with the lift hill though.
-
-The best rides I've had on MF are better than Orion -But Orion will consistently give you airtime where as most of my rides on MF have little airtime -I like the sections on MF where you stay low to the ground and get to appreciate the speed. -I prefer Orion's sort-of-a-waveturn hill more than Millie's gray-out hill after the drop. -MF gives you better views and multiple tunnels. -Orion's speed hill is probably the best element on either ride. So yeah its pretty close. I give the nod to Orion just because its easier to get on.
-
Man, I never thought to just ask in here for something like that. I've struggled to find some of the music played in the Top Gun queue for some time.
-
Man Struck By Roller Coaster at Kings Island Today
DoomPlague replied to BoddaH1994's topic in Kings Island
I've now realized that, after merger, this would make the 4th such incident in the chain. That's still like a one in tens-of-millions chance of a rider doing this but I suspect changes might be more likely that I previously thought. I just hope its simply a matter of just securing those areas better. Lockers would be overkill, imo. -
What If Paramount Still Owned Kings Island...
DoomPlague replied to kingsislandfan1972's topic in Kings Island
It's my understanding that Universal had (and still does) exclusive Marvel theme park rights east of the Mississippi, starting when they opened IOA. -
Kings Island 2024 Food Reviews and Discussion
DoomPlague replied to SmartCat7162's topic in Kings Island
Now that the chain will have 30+ parks, they may have more pull with Coke and could ask them to create some sort of higher capacity machines (though I'm not betting on that happening). Not sure about the ones at the park but its common for soda fountains to have ice makers but many probably can't keep up with demand anyways. Also, it seems like the freestyles are refilled with those flavor cartridges from the front and have to be taken out of service for a moment, which probably discourages park staff from refilling as needed. -
Man Struck By Roller Coaster at Kings Island Today
DoomPlague replied to BoddaH1994's topic in Kings Island
A few national outlets have reported the incident including USA Today (which refers to just an "accident" in the headline, which is pretty irresponsible). I've delved into comment sections at a number of outlets to see what people are saying and I haven't seen anyone suggest that the park did something wrong or that this means rides are dangerous etc etc. Literally every post is a form of "how can someone do something so stupid." So I'm not terribly concerned about the ride or park's reputation. I will say, though, that the Columbus ABC affiliate talked to an "expert" who sounds like the guy attorneys call up for their lawsuits. He argues that the park has a duty to predict behavior like this and try to stop it with things like motion sensors and even razor wire. It was an absurd take considering that such behavior is extraordinarily rare and in no way reasonable. -
I forgot to make this TR as I unwound from the trip and got back to work. The last park of my trip was the famous Europa Park. Like the other European parks, Europa has nice theming and scenery but its not as elaborate as Phantasialand. However, it does have 14 coasters and a bunch of dark rides. I left open an extra day in the trip in case I needed it to hit everything I wanted. We made our way towards the new ride, Voltron but came across SilverStar first. It's a B&M hyper and it was a walk-on at this time. The ride is sponsored and the queue building is massive inside with a bunch of frankly wasted space. Having an indoor queue is nice though. The ride itself...well its a B&M hyper. Good air time throughout. I definitely prefer Diamondback for the most part though Silverstar doesn't run as slow in its second half. We then made it to the new Mack multi-launch coaster, Voltron. Being a new ride, it was a bit of a wait even this early. The outdoor theming was nice but not as cool as once you get inside. Inside there's an animatronic Nikola Tesla and on the ceiling are 4 large tesla coils...that every once in a while play the ride's theme. It's pretty cool. Eventually you get to an attendant who hands anyone with a bag an RFID card which will lock and unlock some double-sided lockers. Unlike FLY, they are just simple white cards instead of a strap and there's no metal detector. So its more of a bin replacement rather enforcing a strict loose item policy. Once to the ride platform, the 4x4 trains move on a conveyor platform and the process is pretty efficient. The ride itself has a prelaunch section with special effects that mimic you being jolted with electricity and the track jumps up and down. It's pretty neat and on our second ride, everyone on the ride was playing along. The ride also has a turntable midway and a very short backwards launch. It's a nice little surprise. Overall the ride is fantastic. It has loads of strong airtime and quick transitions. It's easily one of the two best rides I've ridden on the trip, which says quite a bit. I would love to see KI get this new model. After Voltron, we made our way to Blue Fire, which was considered a game changer for Mack. It's a good multi-launch coaster. A bit shaky and not as good as some other LSM launch coasters out there but still probably the second best ride at the park. Like Silverstar, it has a sponsored, oversized indoor queue. We also did Wodan Timbur Coaster, a GCI woodie. Nice theming in the queue. The ride itself is decent but nothing too special. It lacks the relentlessness of Mystic Timbers. Euro Mir is a Mack spinner themed to the Mir space station. A replica of the station is above the queue and there are cosmonauts and related things in the ride itself. The highlight of the ride is the spiral lift hill, where you are rotated up the hill by a rocket with Russian techno blaring in the background. It was quite entertaining. The main part of the ride is a fairly typical family spinner. Arthur is part dark ride, part coaster. The park is apparently pretty proud of the ride because there's a making-of video in the queue. The entrance is in an indoor plaza where part of the ride goes. Very nicely themed even if I didn't really know what was going on. It's probably the best dark-ride coaster combination I've been on, technology wise. It's inverted but the seats rotate to view scenery. Pretty nice scenery and animatronics, then you hit a short rollercoaster section that goes outside. EuroSat CanCan Coaster is the ride housed in that totally-not-an-Epcot-knockoff sphere in the park. It was a pleasant surprise. It's a simple lapbar coaster that blazes by some French-themed scenery in the dark. It's not overly fast, so you can actually see the scenery and hear the music. Schweizer Bobbahn (Swiss Bobsled) is my second Mack bobsled of the trip. Remarkably this thing was running 4 trains (I guess they have 5!?) even though its a really short ride. The one at Parc Asterix was definitely better. Matterhorn Blitz is a Mack wild mouse themed to a Swiss farm, with animatronic farm animals in the queue. It was charming. An elevator lift takes you up in a small tower and then you have a typical wild mouse. We skipped the Super Splash since I rode one at Plopsaland and my riding partner didn't want to get wet. But we did ride Poseidon, a water coaster. It felt like a fairly typical family-thrill level ride but with a splashdown at the end. Also did, for some reason, Alpenexpress Enzian, a powered family coaster. Should have done Pegasus instead. After the coasters, I started hitting the dark rides. Many of them had 0 wait. Madame Freudenreich Curiosités was a cute ride with dinosaurs, seemingly with jobs. Good animatronics, especially Madame Freudenreich herself. Piccolo Mondo has a general Italy theme. I barely remember it but it was okay. Abenteuer Atlantis is an interactive dark ride where you shoot at various underwater creatures. Again, it was okay. Their Ghost House (apparently similar to Haunted Mansion) was closed unfortunately. And I ended up missing Snorri Tauren and I apparently shouldn't have because its said to be one of their most advanced dark rides. Pirates in Batavia was definitely a highlight for me. It might be considered a POTC knockoff but its a good one. Lastly, Voletarium, is a flying theater attraction that has you flying around various scenes across Europe. Pretty well done even if the theme wasn't that interesting. I wouldn't mind seeing KI get a similar attraction. Before leaving, we hit up Voltron again as that was clearly the highlight of the park. This was definitely a great park but I think I was more impressed by Phantasialand. Europa Park definitely has more to do but it almost felt like a jack-of-all-trades-master-of-none, Voltron being the exception. With Voltron, this park's coaster lineup, were it in the US, would be somewhere in the mid top 10 among US parks. Before Voltron, though, it would have been similar to how many enthusiasts feel about KI in terms of coasters: consistent quality top to bottom but lacking an elite ride (not that I agree with that). Of course, this is ignoring the overall quality of the park, the dark rides, theming, etc.
-
Man Struck By Roller Coaster at Kings Island Today
DoomPlague replied to BoddaH1994's topic in Kings Island
I doubt we'll see an investment in metal detectors and lockers over this unless they were already tired of people losing items on Banshee in general (which might well be the case I suppose). This sort of incident is rare and I would think they would first look to improve the security of lockout zones. I had the same thought about where he got in. Basically there's no one watching that area by the old SOB station and few guests go out there. I've had times where I walked through the tunnel towards The Bat and there wasn't a single soul in sight. -
Kings Island 2024 Food Reviews and Discussion
DoomPlague replied to SmartCat7162's topic in Kings Island
I tried the street taco fries. They were decent but I'm not a big fan of the large cut fries they use at Potato Works, to be honest. Also tried the cheesy mettwurst. That was pretty good. Lots of bacon and cheese. The "saratoga chips" were decent. Nice spicing on the chips but the larger chips were soft rather than crispy. The smaller chips were crunchy at least. So far, I'm actually pretty happy with the 3 new items that I've tried this season. -
Snoopy's Soap Box Racers & Camp Snoopy Reviews
DoomPlague replied to KIghostguy's topic in Kings Island
I got my first ride today. Coming in, I was concerned about the ride's capacity for this first season but when I got there around maybe 2 PM, I got on within 3 or 4 trains. It was no longer than the wait on the major adult coasters today (which hovered in the 15-30 minute range). Got back row and there was a very noticeable vibration to the ride. Not enough to be a problem but fairly consistent. Otherwise the ride packs a little more punch than I expected, at least on the turns. -
Man Struck By Roller Coaster at Kings Island Today
DoomPlague replied to BoddaH1994's topic in Kings Island
Either way I hope the guy is alright. I was on Banshee around 6 PM maybe, Guessing it happened after that. -
- 1 reply
-
- 3
-
-
A day after my trip to Plopsaland, I hit up Phantasialand, one of the two German parks that I really wanted to check out. This park is impressively beautiful, as many of you know. It's not just the famous Rookburgh (where F.L.Y. is) but it seems like every inch of the park is themed. It was overcast and a little rainy that day but that didn't ruin our fun at all. We started off at Taron, with its beautiful, gray rock walls. Honestly, the theming/scenery really did add to the ride. In terms of the ride experience, this Intamin multilaunch would be considered an elite ride at any US park but I guess some it a middle-of-the-pack Intamin LSM. It has those snappy turns and good air time though. Also, it might be the first ride where I noticed they have horizontal shaped bins for each train, stacked on top of each other. They open automatically for each train and are double-sided for the exit. It's a good system. In that area of the park we also rode Colorado Adventure, a newer Vekoma mine train. This is probably the best mine train we rode on the trip and possibly ever. Fairly smooth and it has those nice fake cross-ties made of wood to sell the theme. Chiapas is a Mexican themed log flume that we rode despite the rain. It has great scenery, the steepest drop of any log flume, a backwards descent at one part and even an IMA score. Probably the best log flume I've been on. We checked out a chinese themed dark ride Geister Rikscha. Decent scenery and sufficiently creepy but the animatronics and figures are pretty outdated and often low quality. Nearby was a China themed madhouse, Feng Ju Palace. It had a cheesy preshow but it was my first Vekoma madhouse, so it was still kind of neat to experience. Mystery Castle is an indoor Intamin Drop Tower ride. There are 4 sides facing each other inside what looks like a castle tower on the outside. What was odd was that the ride started, the lights go out and we launched into the air initially and came back down but the staff indicated that the ride wasn't done. They apparently stopped it part way to let someone off or something, so it was like we got a bonus ride. The full ride goes up and down multiple times and there is some sort of mad scientist theme or something? We headed down to the African section where Black Mamba is. I wasn't expected much from the B&M invert but it's probably the best one I've been on (above even Montu). The scenery just adds so much to it. Rock work, waterfalls, etc. Just all so impressive. Nearby was a walkthrough attraction, essentially an obstacle course. I'll add some pictures but what I was saying about Plopsaland and how much these parks trust their guests applies here. The obstacle course is something you would never seen in the US. Tight space, climbing on narrow objects 6 feet above concrete, etc etc. There are attendants when you enter these walk through areas but that's about it. Maybe kids have to be with an adult to enter? We navigated our way to the other side of the park. My only gripe is how hard it is to navigate, in part with how vertical the whole thing is. It's easy to go down the wrong path. Anyways, we made it to an indoor area which has a flat ride and the dual track Maurer spinning coaster, Winjas Fear & Force. Since the two sides have different names, we tried both but disappointingly they are basically the same ride except for one of the unique elements. On one, the car stops and the track flips forward to proceed and other it stops and the track banks to proceed. There's a part where the track drops for a second and there's an elevator lift. These elements made for an interesting ride. Much of the ride goes over the earlier mentioned flat ride and make it kind of feel like being on a ride in a mall. There's an old Vekoma with VR nearby that I opted to skip. I don't get the trend is to add VR to bad coasters. Finally we made our way to F.L.Y. with its remarkable steampunk scenery. The map makes it look like the area connects two areas but its actually a dead end and you have to enter near the park entrance. The queue is almost completely indoors and they have a video in three languages explaining their locker system. Everyone is given a rubber RFID wrist band that will lock the double-sided lockers. Fortunately, these German parks understand that glass straps will hold on to your glasses. The sideways loading system is pretty efficient too. For the ride itself, I found the restraint puts a lot of pressure on my mid-section but that's probably because I'm heavier than I used to be. Still a lot of fun and it confirmed to me that this is how flying coasters should be designed: few inversions with a focus on keeping you in the flying position. The scenery adds a lot to the experience. We headed out of Rookburgh and his a newer dark ride, Maus au Chocolat. An interact projections screen ride where you shoot mice with chocolate by pulling a string. It was decently fun and the scenery between screens was nice. There's one part where you enter a cake-making area and you actually smell cake. We did a couple more rides and Taron and FLY before leaving and walked through a hotel themed funhouse. I wanted to check out some merch and was surprised that they only seem to have one merch store which covers all of the areas, instead of having every ride exit into one. Sort of refreshing. European parks also seem to keep their food places open after closing time (though the fact that they all close so early is probably part of that). Lastly, while drinks were priced as you would expect food was decently cheap. We bought some rather large bratwurst for 4.60 euros each. Those things are easily the size of two typical store bought brats in the US. In all, Phantasialand really impressed me. Many of their rides are at the top or near the top for their respective ride types and the scenery is amazing. Operations were good (though not Parc Asterix good),
- 1 reply
-
- 2
-
-
During my Europe trip I had a chance to make a short visit to this charming little family park near the Belgian coast. Of course, the park is only known for one thing to coaster/park enthusiasts: Ride to Happiness. One of the only two Mack Extreme Spinning coasters as of the moment and often considered a top tier ride. I entered the park and noticed that it has a large entry plaza with your typical nice European building fronts. Even smaller parks in Europe go big on scenery. I made my way to Ride of Happiness which opened a bit after the park. I made my way to Ride of Happiness which opened a bit after the park. Nice theming but not quite as elaborate as some of these other parks. Unfortunately, just like in France, they didn't care that my glasses had a strap and made me put them away. It's like glass straps aren't a thing in France and Belgium. RtH is a quality ride for sure but I think I expected too much. It didn't spin a lot on any of my rides. It's wild for sure and I still think the model would be a great fit for KI. I got 5 total rides in because it was a walk in before I left the park. I moved on to Heidi the Ride, a family GCI woodie. It's not bad. I imagine its close to Invadr at BGW but nothing like Mystic Timbers. This whole area is themed to famous fictional girl Heidi (my family always liked the animated versions of Heidi). It's a bit odd but the park itself is odd. They often had kid-friendly Euro-pop music playing in various areas sometimes sang by strange characters. One of the areas was a farm with live farm animals and instead of a classic car ride, there was a tractor ride. Being from the American countryside, I found that humorous. I also rode Anubis, a 2009 Gerstlauer launch coaster. It has single cars, but its not a euro fighter. The OTSR's were at least bearable and it was fun but its nothing to write home about except that the model is uncommon. Once again, I had to take off my glasses but other than that I noticed on this whole trip that these parks trust their guests wayyyy more than in the US. Stepping out of the car and exiting, there's a very narrow exit platform and where you turn to go down there stairs you are right next to the track with nothing there to stop you from falling. The park train wasn't running but where the train crosses the midway, there are no gates or anything to stop guests from walking where they want. I'll probably talk about this subject in my Phantasialand post. I rode their dinosaur themed log flume, which was nicely themed. Also rode Super Splash which is a Mack...super splash. In Belgian and France, water rides seem to be made to avoid getting anyone wet. Lastly, I rode a dark ride called Bos van Plop. It's a boat ride with weird gnome sized people living and working in their forest homes, some of which are made of mushrooms. To be honest, its the closest thing I've ever ridden to the Smurfs Enchanted Voyage. I suspect the fact that the Smurfs were created in Belgium has something to do with it. Plopsaland is definitely more of a family park and RtH seems to be an attempt to bring in an older (teen and adult) crowd. It's seemingly the opposite problem that some of our seasonal parks like KI are facing. Some people think the one ride makes visiting this park worth going out of the way to see but I'm not sure. It's probably in my top 5 of the trip but only just barely. I will say, the small town of De Panne is great. These European towns always seem bigger than they are, by population, because they are more densely packed with a ton of local businesses and restaurants, beautiful town plazas, etc. De Panne also has a nice beachfront and boardwalk area.
- 1 reply
-
- 2
-
-
Some family encouraged me to check out Disneyland Paris during my Europe trip and a couple of us ended up going. I only have vague memories of going to Disney World in the 80s, so perhaps it was time but making my first trip in that time at a park where everything is in French...felt a bit strange. I had heard Walt Disney Studios is the weakest of the Disney parks, so I decided to get 1 park tickets, especially since Disney Paris pulls in around 10 million guests a year and would likely be crowded. Well...it turns out that students in much of France and Germany are still in school until late June or later... Disneyland Paris We get to the park and make our way to the Frontier area and check out Phantom Manor. It's Haunted Mansion but with a more frontier setting. Frankly, I loved it. Top tier dark ride...and the wait was only 5 minutes. -Big Thunder Mountain. Maybe 15 minute wait. Decently smooth Vekoma mine train with great scenery and decently smooth. I barely remember BTMR at Magic Kingdom and can't really compare. -POTC was closed but we rode Indiana Jones and the Temple of Peril. An old Intamin looper. It has annoying OTSRs and little leg room and its a bit rough. Not a great ride. The next time someone trashes the choice of going with Zamperla for TT2, I'm going to remind them that this is the kind of ride Intamin made before they made their first 400+ foot LSM coaster. -Hyperspace Mountain: I had low expectations and it failed to meet them. The OTSR was uncomfortable and the ride was rougher than expected. On the outside it still looks like a Jules Verne ride, so the tacked on Star Wars theme just feels, well, tacky. -As far as the non-coasters. Star Tours was all in French (most other attractions have English and French. I guess you can sometimes get it in English instead? I've never done the US version so it was kind of fun. -Dark rides: We did the Snow White, Peter Pan, and Pinocchio rides. I felt some memories come back to me on Peter Pan. But were these rides always so fast? The vehicles blew through the attractions. Also checked out It's a Small World. I felt some nostalgia for that awful, repeating song. Buzz Lightyear Laserblast was decent but I mostly prefer non-interactive dark rides. -We also checked out the walk through attractions like Alice in Wonderland's hedge maze (probably more fun with kids), the Swiss Family Robinson one (alright), Aladdin (not worth your time), the Nautilus (cool) and the dragon sleeping under Sleeping Beauty's Castle (cool). We did everything I wanted to check out and all of the major rides other than flat rides (like Dumbo) by 4:30 (without fast pass or "Premier Access" as its called there). I ended up asking to upgrade my ticket to do Walt Disney Studios and the cost of doing that turned out to be cheaper than if I got the 2-park ticket to begin with. Walt Disney Studios: -We headed towards Twilight Zone Tower of Terror which had the longest line of the day and the time on the app was pretty far off. Probably waited an hour but it was fun. I've heard its a bit different than the other versions and its in both English and French. -Avengers Assemble Flight Force. This is Rock n Rollercoaster converted into an avengers ride. Not sure which I dislike more between this and Hyperspace. I can't believe people trash Flight of Fear when these rough old-Vekoma's exist with their bad restraints. -Spiderman Web Adventure. An interactive projection ride. Honestly, this was more fun than I was expecting. Reminds me of some of the motion VR games I've played. -Crush's Coaster. Got this barely before Walt Disney Studios closes (it closed at 9 where Disneyland closed at 11). Fun little Maurer spinner. It might be my favorite coaster in the 2 parks. -RC Racer. An Intamin surf coaster. It was okay. Feels more like a flat ride than a coaster. -Cars Road Trip. It became immediately obvious that this was a studio tour tram ride, complete with a scene with a semi, earthquake, fire and a flood of water. Still, it wasn't bad. -Ratatouille: Heard many things about this ride but wasn't sure what to expect. It was definitely one of the more fun experiences. In all, I was glad that we got to do both parks and all the attractions that I wanted to hit (sans Pirates). The studios park honestly isn't horrible. It just needs...more. Seems like they're doing some major work as there were construction walls everywhere.
-
Millie and Orion are so similar but hard to compare. Orion definitely is a more consistent airtime machine. You're always guaranteed to get a decent amount but like you said Millie has that great sense of speed with those low sections. The Corkscrew part is funny as its kind of how I felt the first time I rode it after Vortex's demise. Yeah, its not great but its the only arrow looper we have in the state.
- 1 reply
-
- 1
-
-
I just got back to my BnB from a bucket list park: Phantasialand. Only 7 coasters (I rode 5) but its an incredible park. Got another bucket list park coming in a couple days (Europa). I was thinking of doing Japan later this year but then the opportunity for this trip came up and I took it. I'll have 6 new parks under my belt after Europa and it feels strange because I hadn't been to a park outside of KI and CP in probably 20 years or more.
-
Just got back from my first overseas park visit. This whole trip was a bit last minute but I opted to add Parc Asterix and I'm glad I did. First off, Toutatis is legit. Scratch that, Toutatis is amazing. It's a wild, out of control ride with a triple launch section and some fun, new elements. It even has strong ejector airtime but with restraint that don't make you regret your life decisions. It's probably my number 1 now (not that that says much). Got 3 rides on it on a somewhat mild weekday. Or maybe it just seemed mild because of how absurdly fast the ops are. Every dispatch is under 30 seconds. Part of that is certainly the lack of seatbelts and frankly the lack over overweight and other problematic riders. My only gripe: the staff wouldn't let me keep my glasses on even with a strap. Tonner 2 Zeus. It's weird that despite living relatively close, this was my first Gravity Group ride (depressingly, I haven't even been on Voyage). It too is an impressive ride. Wild elements. Good airtime. Great pacing and its long enough to feel like a complete ride. Honestly, if it wasn't so rough, I would rank it above any wood coaster. It's not unbearably rough but its enough to hurt the experience. The restraints on the timberliners are pretty nice though. Got 2 rides in and the second was about a 5 minute wait. Oziris. The resemblance to Montu is still funny but this a decent invert that doesn't try to kill you with vertical G's. Decent. Pegase Express. I completely forgot about this thing having a reverse launch so it was a fun surprise. It's considered a family thrill coaster which is pretty accurate but it packs a decent punch. It is a tad rough. Got 2 rides. Goudarix. Yeah. I rode an old Vekoma but not because I care about credits. I've never been on one of these models. Honestly, it wasn't that bad. Instead of headbanging the restraint sat awkwardly and painfully on my chest. New restraints would significantly improve it. Trace du Hourra. One of the remaining Mack bobsleds. I've always liked them and this was my first ride on one in a while. Fun ride. Also Vol D'lcare, a small zierer ride. It wasn't horrible but it has a bunch of block brakes that automatically hit, like on a wild mouse and it hurts the ride. I completely forgot to ride the last coaster at the park, a tivoli family coaster but I suspect I didn't miss much. The park itself was beautiful. As we all know, these European parks put the US to shame outside of Disney and Universal. I wouldn't put the park quite on their level but maybe just one tier down. It was wonderfully atmospheric. They also do a number of good operational things. For example, on rides that need a place for bags, they wheel out carts and then securely make the cart available at the exit only after that train has returned. Another example, in longer lines, random security guards walk through the line. In the morning, at least 5 passed us in line and it appears to be just part of their rounds. Definitely would like to see that at KI and other American parks. After closing time, I noticed food stalls were still open which is nice, though they don't have dining plans so that's certainly part of it. One complaint about the park is the short hours. 6pm close on weekdays and 7 pm close on weekends. Also, I don't speak French but I suppose that is my fault....
-
- 3
-
-
Yeah, I'm kind of hoping Carowinds gets that Super Flume in their passholder survey. Though I think that would be a good replacement for Congo Falls And heck, CP could use one too but Carowinds most of all. Not having a water ride there is criminal.