gigacoaster2k

It saddens me that so many of my friends have stopped coming to this site because of a few spammers and unruly members. I've stuck around no matter what, and I'm not going anywhere no matter how bad it gets. I have faith in Ryan, Dane, and Robbie that they have and will continue to keep this site a clean and welcoming place.

Wow! This is making me want to go to Sea World even more than I already do. That's awesome that you have to walk through an aquarium to get to Manta, and that photo of Manta from RCDB is making me drool! Blue Horizons and Believe sound like amazing shows. I love all animals including marine life, and now I'm dying to see these shows. Your trip even on day 2 sounds like you had the experience of a lifetime. I can't wait to read the rest of your trip report.

I have been considering applying to KI. I'd gladly work in rides, admissions, park security, or whatever the department is that walks around the park sweeping up trash.

Thrill Biscuit, keep them coming! Your creations look fantastic.. I can't wait to see your vision of a DB and a Racer ornament!

No Racer or FOF ornament? I'd buy a Racer ornament in a heartbeat. I love Racer.

I tried not to post too many of them on Facebook, especially my photos of the Arch. I wanted to save those for the TR and surprise everyone.

Quantity is not always better than quality. Holiday World only has 4 coasters: one children's coaster, and 3 top notch wooden coasters. They do indeed deserve recognition for having a great collection of coasters. Never have I been to a park where I thoroughly enjoyed 75% of their coasters.. no, not even Cedar Point. I'd rather go to a park that has a few amazing coasters, than go to a park that has several mediocre, boring, or painful ones and only a few good ones.

A BETTER RIDE ON VOYAGE??!! HOW IS THAT EVEN POSSIBLE??!!! This is like putting Hershey kisses and sparklers on top of a triple layer fudge cake. You WILL see me at Holiday World again next year.

Oh my God. I completely forgot until now about the guy that came out of one of those tiny elevators BAWLING because he was that claustrophobic. Nobody was giving him a weird look either. If you are even slightly claustrophobic, that elevator is going to scar you for life. It didn't bother me going up until it started moving from side to side. Going down scared the garbage out of me.

I told my mom that if I hadn't been able to ride a roller coaster all weekend, and we had only gone to the Arch, the trip still would have been totally worth it for me. That is how much I loved the Gateway Arch experience.

The elevator capsule really does feel like they are cramming you into a dryer. It seats 5 in a semi circle, and you can't sit straight up. It is EXTREMELY claustrophobic, and the elevator kind of tick tocks back and forth as it goes up. It takes 4 minutes to get to the top of the arch. However, I tossed aside my slight claustrophobia for this experience. The elevator stopped, and our doors opened. We ducked out into a narrow stairwell, and walked up the stairs to a crowded curved-looking hallway with windows on the side. I looked out the windows and saw this, and I gasped in total amazement as the view literally took my breath away. I also took 2 videos, 1 from each side of the arch. Kat at the highest point of the arch! And yours truly at the highest point! Enjoy the view from 630 feet! Check out the arch in the parking lot. Here is a reference shot with my hand on the window, just to give you a good feeling of how high up we really are. Looking straight down! It's time to go.. I could have stayed up there forever, if you let me.. Back underground, we saw an Arch vending machine! I want one! We headed to the gift shop, where we spent far more money than we had planned. The souvenirs in the shop aren't cheap and junky like most places. They have beautiful and historic things that we all wanted to buy! I really wanted this glitter globe, but I didn't have the money. Choose your journey! The priciest one is $24 per person. The arch is worth any amount of money you spend.. trust me on that. Enjoy some more photos of the astounding Gateway Arch. I put my phone smack against the side of the arch and pointed my lens straight up. Peek a boo, I see you. I got a great picture of Kat and the arch. Adam loves the arch! As do I! More photos for you to enjoy. We had a parking garage picnic before we got back on the road. We were all hungry, and still had a lot of groceries left over, so we destroyed some chips and salsa, sandwiches, and juice. Then it was time for the long drive back home.. which made me sad. Goodbye, beautiful arch.. This will NOT be the last time I go to St Louis. Sweet Challenger I saw at a rest stop on our way back home! Wannabe arch. We stopped for food at a Sonic in Effingham, Illinois.. and we somehow ended up with pizza, Wendy's, and Sonic on our table. I got home around 11 pm Sunday. Kat, Adam, and Nick: THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU.. FOR ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING you did for me and everyone during the trip. I can't thank you enough for inviting me along, and your unwavering friendship. I love you guys so much.. This was the experience of a lifetime, and I am NEVER going to forget it. Thank you.

** DAY 4, NOVEMBER 8: ST LOUIS GATEWAY ARCH EXPERIENCE ** This was BY FAR my favorite part of the entire trip. I'm going to let most of the photos speak for themselves.. my jaw dropped at this GIGANTIC structure and rendered me totally speechless. I was beyond stoked when I found out we were going to the arch! We parked in a parking garage down by the riverfront, and started walking down the stone tree-lined path toward the arch. It is simply astounding to see. Some shots of St Louis from the walkway. A little boy and his dad playing baseball on the field by the arch. This was too cute not to share.. he even had a little baseball hat on. Here is the part of my TR that I have been so excited to write, and to show you all. Enjoy. LOOK AT THAT SHADOW! Here's a brief video of me showing you how high the arch really is. I didn't think photos did it any kind of justice. It's time for our journey to the top! Before you go underground to the trams, they check your bags, and you go through a metal detector, and then your belongings are screened. So DO NOT BRING ANYTHING YOU DO NOT ABSOLUTELY NEED! My ticket and Adam's ticket! Nerd shots. Topping off the arch. This is a simulator where you can put the last piece in. It wasn't working. Scale model of the arch. MY BOARDING PASS TO OUR TRAM! (I am getting excited typing this, and remembering the experience!) OMG OMG OMG HERE'S OUR DOOR!! One more photo before we get in the elevator. WE'RE IN THE ELEVATOR! I am excited!

It was time to go! The temperature was reading 66 degrees, and there wasn't a cloud in the sky.. it was GORGEOUS in St. Louis! You can see the park from the hotel parking lot! We passed a Sherwin-Williams paint place on the way there. I took a pic of this sign that I found rather environmentally unfriendly. HERE WE COME! GETTING CLOSER!! Win. 73 degrees. In November! It felt like the middle of July.. DEFINITELY did NOT feel like November in St Louis! Batman the Ride testing! We could hear the signature B&M roar! Going into the park, we also met up with several people from another coaster enthusiast website. There were a total of 9 or 10 of us in the group by the time the park opened. When it did, we all got our photo with Mr Six! I don't have the photo, but I'm sure I'll be tagged in it later. I had decided I wanted Evel Knievel as my 50th coaster (I was at 48 before the trip), so we headed for Boss first. Enjoy these woodie pics from as we walked to the station. I took a lot of them. Boss and Screamin Eagle in one shot.. mmm, I love wooden coasters! Some may disagree, but I didn't find Boss to be that great of a ride. It felt like I was riding a mini Mean Streak.. I gave it two chances, and I came off with a bad headache and a backache, no matter what I did. Headed to Knievel to make it my 50th, but the line was at an hour wait, so we skipped it in favor of my 50th coaster being Mr. Freeze. I did take some Knievel pics, though. Adam loves this coaster! This sounds good to me! MR FREEZE! Theming. Kat and Nick are on the trains shown in the two pics below! Mr. Freeze is a crazy awesome ride. In my mind, it stomps TTD. I announced that it was definitely worthy of my top 5 steel coasters! Kat told me that there used to be tunnels like this at KI, so I took a pic for those of you who want to remember them. I thought these tunnels were pretty cool myself. Walked by Xcalibur and Tony Hawk's Big Spin on the way to Screamin Eagle, and took some pics. Going to Screamin Eagle! I like the M&M steps. They are cute at SFKK, and they are cute at SFSTL. Six Flags cracks me up. Kat and I in line for Screamin Eagle! The gross platforms are everywhere. Screamin Eagle! I liked Screamin Eagle. It reminded me a lot of Racer. We went to ride River King Mine Ride.. wow, that was a stupid, pointless ride. It had 3 tiny lift hills, and a trim brake. Even CCMR is better than that. Then it was off to one of the coasters I was looking forward to the most: Batman the Ride! I liked Batman, but I honestly like Raptor better. Batman has 2 loops, but lacks my favorite invert element: a cobra roll. The four of us decided we were hungry, and were looking at a map trying to figure out where to eat when something happened that has NEVER happened to me at ANY amusement park: AN EMPLOYEE WALKED UP AND ASKED IF WE NEEDED HELP. Kat grabbed a hot dog, I got chicken tenders, and I believe Adam and Nick both got burgers. We drained like 946 gallons of lemonade, and then decided it was time for my first GCI: Evel Knievel! KI reference at a park in Missouri! I had heard so much about Knievel, but didn't think it would be that great.. HOLY COW, WAS I WAY OFF ON THAT ONE. It knocked Legend out of its #2 spot on my top 5 wooden coasters. Not quite Voyage, but good enough to be my #2 as far as I'm concerned.. WOW!!!!!!!!!!!! After that, we all ran back for another ride on Mr Freeze.. blew me away again! I LOVE THAT RIDE! Time for my credit on the death machine.. um, I mean Ninja. Why am I doing this? Nerd shot of the control panel. Ninja wasn't as painful as I expected (we rode in the very front row), but it failed to impress me. It's a diet Vortex. My last coaster credit of the trip was Tony Hawk's Big Spin. I chose to ride this last, as I don't do spinning rides well. It went down for mechanical difficulties for about 20 minutes. The park was closing in 45 minutes, but we chose to wait it out. We all got to ride, and I loved my first spinning wild mouse! It's like a Tilt A Whirl on drugs.. barely made me dizzy at all, in fact, it was really fun! We realized we weren't going to get to ride everything we wanted, so we booked it for Xcalibur. Terpy, THANK YOU SO MUCH for telling me to ride this. It's now my #2 flat ride, right below Skyscraper at CP. That was INSANE! Nick and Kat wanted a night ride on Boss, but Adam and I wanted a night ride on Evel Knievel. Here we are, waiting for THE LAST ride! Adam and I managed to make it onto the very last train of the year, for our night ride.. TOTALLY epic! What a terrific way to end the day at SFSTL! Ride count: Boss: Adam and I 2, Kat and Nick 3 Evel Knievel: Adam and I 3, Kat and Nick 2 Screamin Eagle: Nick, Kat and I 1 Mr Freeze: 2 Batman: 1 Tony Hawk's Big Spin: 1 River King Mine Ride: 1 Ninja: 1 Xcalibur: 1 We went to a gift shop and we all bought SFSTL shirts, and we got to shake hands, joke and talk with the park president before we left! Our friends took pity on us that we had walked there, so they gave us a ride.. to Applebee's! The 9 of us laughed and chatted over drinks and good food, and got to know each other a little more before we said our goodbyes for the night. After we arrived back at the hotel, we couldn't get to sleep. We stayed up until the wee hours of the morning, giggling from being so slap happy, laughing over nothing and at each others' brainless and klutzy antics, and feasting on ice cream. Tentative plans for the next day were to go to the Gateway Arch, and then to a hot dog roast at Nick's house.

WARNING: You may want to hit the restroom, and/or grab a snack! So here's how it started: Last Monday, I was depressed. Cedar Point had closed the previous day, and I was missing my roller coasters. Kat (violakat03) was texting me, and brought up that she was going to Six Flags St Louis that weekend (they were open from 11 am to 6 pm). Even more depressed, I made a comment about how I wished I could go. She talked to Adam and Nick, and the three of them decided they wanted me along for the ride! I WAS STOKED! I managed to get the days off work too! ** DAY 1, NOVEMBER 5: ROLLER COASTER CAR! ** Kat and Nick (dare to fly) picked me up in a shiny black Ford Fusion rental. Nick made a comment that he was impressed that I'd only packed one bag (I've learned that the more I pack, the more confused I get! haha). We hit I75 south from my house toward Cincinnati to pick up Adam (pkiboy), and then it was off to Nick's house in Milton, Indiana for a stayover before the drive to Missouri. On the road, I became part of a hilarious game: hypothetical strip padiddle! (for those of you who aren't aware, a padiddle is a car with no headlight. Whenever one of us saw one, we'd claim a random person's piece of clothing in the car.) We didn't actually take anything off, but it was amusing to say the least. We discovered a road on the way there that, I kid you not, looked like freaking Racer. He hit some of those hills with some speed, and I literally came up off my seat at one point! I GOT EJECTOR AIR ON A FREAKING ROAD! We stayed up for a while, going through Nick's coaster stuff (which he has A TON OF), and discussing which parks we want to visit, and Adam became fascinated with the "happy apple" (a smiley toy apple that made a little ding-a-ling noise when you gave it a good smack) on Nick's computer desk. We passed out for the night, with plans to make the drive to MO the next day. ** DAY 2, NOVEMBER 6: DRIVING, DRIVING, AND MORE DRIVING! ** We woke up and went downstairs for food. Nick's mother offered to make us breakfast, and Adam helped out. We had a delicious breakfast of sausage, toast with butter and jelly, scrambled eggs, potato cakes, milk, orange juice, powdered donuts, and blueberry donut sticks. YUM! Before we headed out, Nick offered to show us Midnight Trail (?), the haunt he is building behind his house. We got a full walk through, and I was extremely impressed. We also played with his pretty and sweet dog, whose name escapes me (sorry Nick!). We got our stuff together, got in the car, and we were off! I can't remember everything. It was a long drive, and we went back and forth between howling with laughter and having heart to heart conversations. Oh, and reading the ACE Rollercoaster! magazine with Magnum on the front, jamming to amusement park music, and continuing the game of hypothetical strip padiddle. Adam is making faces at me. Nick is happily whistling along to the music, and totally oblivious that I took a photo of him. Happy Kat (yes, she is reading the ACE magazine, haha)! Yours truly! I love this shirt (thank you Kings Island!). Here is the magazine we are reading (and Adam's phone somehow got in the picture haha)! Isn't the front cover just beautiful? Driving toward Indianapolis, I whipped out my crackberry and started snapping skyline photos.. I love city skylines! Miles and miles later, we stopped at a rest stop somewhere just inside the Illinois border. Here, we found beautiful landscaping, and a historic bridge (yes, at a rest stop, of all places). So out came the cameras again. Kat took a photo of me stopping to smell the roses. They smelled amazing, didn't they, Kat? Nerd shot of the history of the bridge. Ground shot of the bridge. A rather interesting pamphlet I picked up in the rest stop information center. I just had to take a pic of the back of Kat's shirt. Back on the road! Another shot of yours truly, this time with my blingin stunna shades. Random gigantic cross on I70. A truck towing a truck towing a truck towing a truck. BACKLOT STUNT CAR! We're finally here! Hello, beautiful St Louis! We arrived at our hotel, to see that we could see Six Flags from our hotel parking lot, and it was a 10 minute walk from our hotel! We grabbed all of our stuff, checked in, and Nick and Kat promptly passed out. Adam and I had wanted to make a trip to the Walmart that was about a half mile down the road, but we didn't want to wake them up, so we decided to walk. I scrawled a note on a napkin and tossed it on the table, and outside we walked to find it was a BEAUTIFUL night. It was a breezy and balmy night, 66 degrees. So we walked all the way to Walmart and were in the store when Adam realized he forgot his wallet. So we walked all the way back, and at one point I didn't feel like walking around this chain link fence so I just jumped it. Nick and Kat woke up, and we all drove back out to Walmart and bought a ton of food. I also took goofy pictures while we were grocery shopping. Yes.. we were getting slap happy at this point. The rest of the night was spent goofing off in the room, to the point where we were laughing so hard we were crying. As slap happy as we were, we managed to get some sleep, and planned to get up to be at Six Flags before they opened the next morning! ** DAY 3, NOVEMBER 7: SIX FLAGS ST LOUIS ** The next morning brings more silly photos. Here is me showing off my Voyage shirt. And Adam and I being stupid. I had went to take a shower that morning, and I slipped in the shower. I grabbed for a random part of the wall, and ended up grabbing the towel rack outside the shower, and a towel fell in the trash as the curtain was yanked aside, throwing every bottle in the shower stall into the tub or on the bathroom floor. I died laughing at myself over that one.

I voted for Demon Drop. I don't have kids so I don't care much for the kids areas, and SOB really hurts me so I choose not to ride it anywhere other than the front seat of the blue train. Sad that you have to ride a coaster a certain way to stop your spine from being shattered.. Anyway, I rode DD on CP closing day, and I had forgotten what a great ride it was until I rode it again. It made me really sad. Posted from my Blackberry mobile device.

Todd, I've been keeping up with Ryan's updates as well, and it looks like you guys are having an absolute blast. I am seething with jealousy, but I am so glad the two of you are thoroughly enjoying yourselves! I for one can't wait to see Ryan tell me about it in person. He tells such vivid and amusing stories of his adventures!

Thanks guys! I have heard nothing but good reviews about this park. Adam has been straight up raving about it since he found out I was going. We leave tonight.. for anyone who has my Facebook, check for updates! eeeeeeeeeeeeee I am soo excited!

I've heard mixed reviews on the Boss. However, I'm convinced that no wooden coaster is worse than Mean Streak at CP.. I'm still in shock that I rode that thing and my spine is still in one piece..

I noticed the odd advertisements at SFKK too. I saw one that said "If everyone's fists were made of Skittles, getting hit in the mouth would be delicious." (Or something like that.) I also LOL'd at the "Hold On To Your Buns" Miracle Whip ads.

I'm going with Kat (violakat03), Nick (dare to fly), and Adam (pkiboy) this Saturday, it's their closing day. This will be my first visit to the park. I've looked the coasters up on RCDB, so I'm aware of those, and I'm going to ride them all. I'm really looking forward to Batman The Ride, Evel Knievel, and Mr. Freeze! What kinds of flats do they have that I should ride? Is there any kind of really good food or desserts I should try? And what else should I look for, such as nostalgic parts of the park, anything of interest, etc.? I like to explore parks and see what is hiding in the (non-restricted) corners of the park. Thanks!

When I got back from CP, my dad said, "I bet Dragster was a cold ride!" Honestly, it wasn't. During a launch from 0 to 120 in 4 seconds, the temperature outside tends to be one of the farthest things from your mind! But Millie and Maggie?.. BRRRRRRR-R-R-R!!

I went to CP in November for closing day 2 years in a row.. that may as well have been sub-freezing temps! I'd put on a Carhartt coat, several layers of clothing, insulated gloves, boots and a ski mask.. I say bring it!

The only coaster that ever really scared the hell out of me was Millennium Force at Cedar Point, on my first ride. I was still afraid of heights at that time. It hit me while we were in the station how high we were about to go, and I freaked out to the point where I had a panic attack. I still rode it, because we'd driven 4 hours to get there and it was my reason for my first visit. I absolutely loved the ride, so it totally destroyed my fear of heights.. I ran back and rode it again!