homestar92

^ And among your list are two wooden coasters that I personally find to be fun, thrilling rides that are greatly underrated and much more enjoyable than most people give them credit for.

Just hope we don't end up seeing something like this. (Photo from Theme Park Review) If that happened, then HUSS fault would it be?

The Pirate Ship was not open on the 4th.

And don't forget to relax, have fun, and enjoy the sights. Coney is a beautiful park. They really capture the "park" aspect of "amusement park" better than any other amusement park I've been to.

I also did not get a chance on my visit to ride any of those rides. Next time, I'll be skipping the Nightmare of a dark boat ride and hitting up a couple of the classics that I missed as well. On a side note, Ghostwood Estates is another decent dark ride at Kennywood. While not spectacular, it is definitely the best dark ride with laser guns that I've ridden... Though its only competition in that realm is two versions of Boo Blasters and Gobbler Getaway, so I'd be concerned if it wasn't the best...

^ Did you get a chance to ride any of the water rides? Log Jammer is probably my favorite Arrow Flume of all time, and Raging Rapids is a spectacular Intamin River Rapids Ride. It comes very, very close to White Water Canyon for me, but the placement of the rides within their respective parks is what gives WWC the slight edge.

Good diners? Do they have a lot of airports in New Jersey? - Homestar92, cross-threading.

The one with an upper-case B and a close-paren always gets me, because usually my formatting for making lists is upper-case letters followed by parentheses. And I just realized I actually used the term "close-paren". I've been a professional software developer for less than two months and the lingo is starting to slip into outside conversation. I just hope I don't start telling people to "GOTO 10" if I want them to view a post on page 10...

The Bat at Canada's Wonderland. Though it really wasn't bad. It was just slightly less fun than Boomerang at Darien Lake or the Carolina Cobra at Carowinds. For what it's worth, the Carolina Cobra is actually a wonderful coaster despite being a cookie cutter boomerang.

I love Raptor. I won't deny, it's the weakest B&M Invert I've ridden, but it's a lot of fun. Granted, it's competing against Afterburn and Banshee, which are fairly commonly agreed to be among the best Inverts B&M has ever made, so...

Carowinds is my favorite Cedar Fair park. I'm sad to hear you were there when Hurler was having a bad day. It was nice and smooth when I was there, but I've heard that Hurler can be particularly... moody, and can be glass smooth some days and horribly rough on others. I agree on Nighthawk being a tad better than Firehawk, though I just wish there were a better place to hold on. I'm never 100% comfortable on flying coasters, and I like the psychological feeling of holding on. Even though in the event of catastrophe, it would probably not help much on that type of coaster... I personally loved the Carolina Cyclone. It's my third favorite Arrow looper. It's certainly no Viper or Vortex, but I really like it. Decent length, fresh paint (in 2012 at least), and a short line made it a ride that I really loved. I love the trains on the Carolina Cobra. Those Vekoma Boomerang coasters are generally seen with either Arrow looper trains or the older Vekoma looper trains (which resemble the Arrow ones a bit). The new Vekoma trains are delightful, and I think they do a better job of the vest-style restraint than B&M. Much more comfortable than Gatekeeper or Banshee's restraints in my opinion. They have also introduced a version of those restraints for their SLCs, which I'd imagine would do wonders for those rides, as the headbanging kills what would otherwise be fun, compact little inverts. Perhaps T2 will get some new trains with its upcoming refurb. I don't know what the fate of the original trains for that coaster were, but if for some reason the park no longer has them, they would be a good candidate for the new ones. Agree with you on Intimidator, almost word-for-word. I like the ride itself a bit better than Diamondback, but the splashdown pushes Diamondback above it for me. Vortex is a fun little standup coaster, though way too short. It was over as soon as it started getting good. It's definitely my second favorite coaster named Vortex. Thunder Road is pretty good, but I'd rather ride The Racer. Afterburn was my first B&M Invert, and what a way to be introduced to them. I definitely think it blows Raptor away. I like it almost as much as Banshee. I need to get back down there and see how they compare without having two years between riding them.

I enjoy Banshee not having storage bins. Shorts with zipper pockets will never let you down. I also have a pair of pants with zipper pockets for April/early May and October.

^ some of my best rides on rapids-style rides like WWC have been with random families that I've been paired up with.

^ and from hearing peoples' conversations in line on Saturday, many of the people in that park do not realize it's not the same drop ride.

I spent two days at Canada's Wonderland this summer. The Platinum Pass upgrade was almost exactly $100. One day ticket at Canada's Wonderland is $39.99 CAD (or about $37.50 USD) if purchased three or more days in advance. Two days and we're at $75. Now, consider that parking at Canada's Wonderland is $20 CAD (18.75 USD) per car per day. For two days, I'm up to an additional 37.50, bringing the total up to $112 USD. At this point, I'm $12 ahead of where I would have been buying a Kings Island Gold pass and paying my way into CW with a day ticket. Now factor in the 15% discount on all purchases at Canada's Wonderland, and I get to save even more money. It definitely depends on which parks you plan on going to, but a Platinum Pass can more than pay for itself in two days at many of the Cedar Fair parks. You can't forget to factor in things like parking, in-park discounts, and special perks, as those are definitely part of the value. And now, my Platinum Pass has already made itself worthwhile, and if I chose to take a weekend trip to, say, Cedar Point, Michigan's Adventure, Worlds of Fun, or any of the other reasonably nearby parks, it's almost like I'm going for free.

Well, it sounds like you and I, sir, could not possibly have more opposing views on coasters. Welcome to KIC! Everyone here has different opinions on rides and that's OK. You seem to dislike all of my favorites, but that's the great thing about KI. There is a great variety of different types of coasters, and just about anyone can find something they like. For what it's worth, I find Diamondback to be slightly more exciting than Millennium Force, which is slightly less exciting than a Teletubbies marathon, so it's unlikely we'll ever meet in line for a ride, but I'll certainly say Hi if we ever do!

I feel like if I were a parent who wanted to go to Kings Island, I would consider only two options: 1) Go to the park and ride only rides that the little one is willing and able to ride, and enjoy seeing the happiness on my child's face 2) Hire a sitter for the day I don't even like the idea of parent swap, to be honest. Though the kid doesn't have to wait alone, you're still making them wait in line for a ride they can't/don't want to ride, and that still rubs me the wrong way. Though when I have kids, I plan on getting them into amusement parks as early as possible and get them on coasters before they are given any reason to see roller coasters as scary. I feel like kids are only afraid of coasters because they have friends or family who say that they are afraid of them, which in a young mind, can make a child fear something. If a kid doesn't realize there is anything to be afraid of, they shouldn't have any reason to be afraid, if that makes sense.

Non-riders who claim that they won't ride roller coasters because they're dangerous. Bonus points if they are a parent who sits and waits while they let their children on these alleged death traps and who participated in an exponentially more dangerous activity by driving to the park that morning... Thanks, local news media, for falsely convincing people that one of the safest forms of amusement you can find is apparently dangerous...

Groups who ask if they can go in front of you to keep their group together. Um, no. If anything, it works the other way around. You should be allowing others in front of YOU if you wish to keep your entire group together. I will say that I enjoyed the people at Kentucky Kingdom. Very few of the annoyances I often experience at Kings Island were happening there. On both coasters, I had groups of three ask if I wanted to ride with them since I was by myself. I stood and chatted with them while we were waiting for the next train and had some fun and interesting conversations. Could we please transplant some of that southern hospitality up north of the river?

I am currently at KK as I type this. Some observations: Lightning Run crews are not very quick. About 1 dispatch every 4 minutes today. I'll give them a pass for now because it's year 1 and early in the season. This absolutely MUST be fixed at some point sooner rather than later, though. The park looks great. Fresh paint all over and very clean. RMC outdid themselves on Thunder Run. It rides like a new coaster. Lightning Run is amazing. Better, even, than my beloved Maggie. Possibly even better than Phantom's Revenge. This ride alone is absolutely worth the cost of admission. Season pass processing is very quick and easy. In and out in less than 5 minutes. All in all, I'm impressed. The park is not remotely perfect, but I see a great deal of potential here.

Oh, sure BB1. Go ahead and jump right off of our little pattern.

I've heard a lot less Van Halen at the park this year. Right now, someone is disappointed.

I noticed similar things in that old POV from 1979. It seems to just barely have enough momentum to get to the station. There are a couple factors at play to think about. Were the trains empty for both? How did the 4-row cars affect speed, if at all. I still contend that people think it was faster then due to having been younger and not having ridden the ride dozens upon dozens of times like they have now. Because as I can tell, it seems much faster now than then.

Trust me us below 18 year olds get the same sick, painful feeling getting off Arrow-Loopers. If anything the headbanging is even worse on us! I've ridden Anaconda, Corkscrew, Loch Ness Monster, and Vortex and I got sick after riding all of them. Corkscrew is probably the least painful IMO. That's probably true for at least some, but not all. I'm 15, and I don't get a sick or painful feeling on any Arrow loopers (granted, I have a stomach of steel)! Since I have a habit of relaxing during the ride (which is quite helpful), the little headbanging I face is hardly a problem. The Arrow loopers I've been on are Vortex, Corkscrew, Viper (at Darien Lake), Anaconda, Loch Ness Monster and Tennessee Tornado and all of them are fun! But that's just me. Everyone's different. Viper is amazing. I was shocked at how smooth it was. It was very strange to me, riding an Arrow looper with a helix that has to be one of the smoothest I've ever ridden through.

Six Flags must have liked hiding graveyards in plain view. Darien Lake (which is a former Six Flags property) has a graveyard about 15 feet from the main road that the park sits on. If you know where to look, you can see what was once Batman: The Escape, in pieces, right next to the road. It looks like there was a time in which it could easily have been reassembled and installed at Darien Lake (and they certainly have plenty of land for it). Now, though... It's looking a bit rusty. On another note, Kings Island has a graveyard in their parking lot, but it isn't quite the same thing.