homestar92

I can't say I'm surprised. They've typically extended the sale at least a few days in recent years. Though I know one person who made sure to purchase a pass yesterday because she wasn't sure they'd extend the sale, so the deadlines work to move passes quickly. She wasn't going to go to the park at all this season until I asked if she wanted to go with me this weekend... -homestar92, who hopes the season pass purchase means more than just money for the park

I always pictured it like the Tasmanian Devil from Looney Tunes.

What does that mean? To be jelly is another way of saying that someone is jealous.

Also, he says that Banshee has too many loops and that Batman: The Ride at SFGAm has a better amount. Funny, I count two on both rides. Unless he means INVERSIONS, which are not synonymous with loops. But surely he has the correct nomenclature. Any reputable source of information would surely take the time to get their terms right. In all actuality, I think he's jelly.

How the heck do they plan on ensuring that?!? Darien Lake (coincidentally, another former SIX property) has a similar guarantee in place. If you wait in line longer than 45 minutes, you may go to guest services and receive a free front-of-the-line pass for the ride on which you experienced the lengthy wait. They also offer rainchecks for days in which the majority of rides are closed due to inclement weather.

I don't have an issue with the germs. After all, I'm about to ride a coaster and I can't imagine many things more germ-infested than the restraints on a Roller Coaster. However, I do find it a bit odd that they want to high-five strangers, and I typically don't accept their offer of a high-five. Now, on KIC day when there were a train's worth of us in line together, different story. We were all high-fiving fiends as we navigated the switchbacks that day.

And just as general advice, I've seen many companies that do hire on the spot in some cases, but may not necessarily in all cases. When I applied for my internship, I was not hired on the spot (though the phone call giving me the job offer came before I made it home). When I reapplied for a full time position, I went through a brief phone interview and was hired on the spot that time. I should add, however, that I have never been employed by Kings Island or the Cedar Fair Entertainment Company, and I know nothing about their hiring practices. To reiterate what's been said here, you should either direct your questions to the park's HR department, or just wait and call them back in a little while at the number they gave you to check on your status.

Operations were typical for Cedar Fair. Can't complain except for the Dinosaurs Alive hiccup. Food was good, but I had pizza both days so I can't comment on much else. On the first day, I had pizza from a park-exclusive location, then on the second from Pizza Pizza, a Canadian chain. I liked both, but the chain pizza was better and cheaper for the amount you got. With a season pass discount, you can get a fairly large slice of pizza for under $5 CDN (after taxes) which is pretty good for Theme Park pricing. Overall, their food prices are on par with what you'd see at KI, but with a little higher taxes. With the 15% season pass discount (while KI only has 10% I believe) and the exchange rate benefit for American visitors, it works out a little cheaper than eating at KI in most cases. I would visit again, but only after they build something new to draw me in. The park is not very flat so you are constantly walking up and down an incline, and it can be very tiring to walk around all day. But it is very clean and well-kept, so taking in the sights can be as enjoyable as riding. My biggest complaint is one spiel which tops "Down goes the floor, now you're out the door!" as the worst spiel ever. On Thunder Run, their spiel begins with "Welcome to Thunder Run, the train that is fun". That is just so bad, I can't even fathom somebody thinking it to be clever.

This will be a quadruple post (yikes!) but a couple days later, I'm bringing you the second half of my trip report and discuss the flat rides, in no particular order. Taking a counter-clockwise loop around the park, the first flat you'll arrive at is Riptide. Riptide is a Mondial Top Spin, but it is a bit different than the typical ones. Instead of one gondola with two rows, it has two individual gondolas on the same end of the arm, each with one row. Imagine a "Y" shape, and that's what the arm looks like. I don't care for this variety of Top Spin. You don't get the same acrobatic flips you experience on a HUSS Top Spin, and the only times I recall being upside-down is when the brakes were locked to prevent the gondola from spinning and the entire arm moved in a circle. It did feature synchronized water jets unlike the Top Spin at Darien Lake, but I liked the one at Darien Lake better. Honestly, I enjoyed The Crypt more than Riptide, even with its post-2008 cycle. Next up is the Spinovator. This is a Mack Calypso ride, so those who have been to Cedar Point may recognize it. The experience is almost akin to a Scrambler tilted 45 degrees. The ride is not really unique to this park, as these are relatively common, but it does more than make up for their lack of a Scrambler by offering up an experience that is comfortably familiar, but different enough to be surprising and fun. I did not ride their Drop Tower, but I can comment on what I know about it. It is 227 feet tall, so it is a fair bit shorter than the one at Kings Island. It is a Giant Drop rather than a Gyro Drop, so it seats less people per cycle and it does not rotate as you ascend the tower. Like the one at KI, it has the horrible Paramount paint scheme that is just as out-of-place in the Medieval Faire section as ours is in the New-and-improved Action Zone. Finally, it does not play Van Halen, so the one at Kings Island is substantially better on that basis alone. As far as I'm concerned, the only thing Drop Towers are good for is keeping a few people held up in line who would otherwise be in line ahead of me for rides that are actually fun. Since I skipped their Swinging Ship, The last flat that I rode in the Medieval Faire section was Nightmares. Nightmares is a HUSS UFO ride. Imagine it like a Rotor that tilts to nearly 90 degrees. Imagine the Super Roundup from Coney, the Electric Rainbow from Stricker's, or the Revolution at Holiday World, only a lot bigger. Next up is their version of Boo Blasters on Boo Hill. Their capacity is much lower as they do not have a continuous loading system like we do at KI. Their course is also shorter and less involved, and not all of the targets were enabled during either of my rides. However, ALL OF THE BLASTERS WORK! I was able to get a decent score despite the significantly shorter cycle, and I even set the scoring record for the day my second time around with a score of 1710. It's not a flat ride, but I will add that I intended to go through their Dinosaurs Alive, but apparently Platinum Passes from KI do not qualify for free admission to Dinosaurs Alive at Canada's Wonderland, or at least their computer did not think so. Rather than argue with this point, I decided to move on and continue riding things. These aren't flats either, but I'll go ahead and review their two kids' coasters while we're in their kids areas. First, their Ghoster Coaster. It is a clone of KI's Woodstock Express as far as I can tell, but it is not painted. It was the smoothest of the Woodstock Express clones I've ridden, with Carowinds' being the roughest, and KI's being in the middle. Next up is the SIlver Streak. This is one of the earlier Vekoma Suspended Family Coasters. The layout isn't much different than on Flying Ace Aerial Chase (if at all) and so there isn't a whole lot to say. The OTSRs are a little bit thinner, but that's the only difference that is apparent to me. Leaving Planet Snoopy and Kidzville, the next section is the International Festival. The first ride here is Shockwave. This is a Mondial Top Scan. It is a very fun and intense flat that has you nearly upside-down several times. I don't think you ever actually go fully upside-down though. It is definitely a fun and unique ride that has you spinning around every which way for nearly three minutes. I imagine Protein Spills are a common occurrence on this one. Next up was Klockwerks. This is a HUSS Swing Around just like the Corn Popper at Darien Lake. It spins you in a circle while moving your individual cart in and out. When one cart is inside, the next will be outside and vice versa. You get some nice laterals when it shifts you in and out. Definitely a fun ride that anyone can enjoy, as it is thrilling without being too intense. After this was Krachenwagen, a set of Dodgems so incredibly sub-par that I will not do them the service of talking about them any further than this. Finally, making the LONG loop to their Action Zone, you can see the real treats that Canada's Wonderland has to offer. It is home to their Antique Carousel from 1928. It is a beautiful carousel, but it has no band organ (not even a non-functional one like at KI). They play recorded carousel music, but it is very quiet and played through a really low quality PA system. Some better musical accompaniment would do wonders for this beautiful old carousel. Also in Action Zone is Orbiter, a HUSS Giant Enterprise like the former Skylab at Kings Island. I actually enjoyed it a lot more than the smaller Enterprise rides. Its cycle is less nauseating, so I was able to enjoy it more. The cabins are comfortable, and I could honestly take a nap inside them, which is certainly not bad thing. The last two flats are where it gets interesting. First, you have Psyclone. The ride is a Mondial Frisbee. The experience is similar to Delirium, but amazingly, it manages to have an even shorter ride cycle. My favorite Frisbee is still maXair, pending my thoughts on Black Widow when I return to Kennywood. More interesting, however, is its sign. It uses the same arch as Invertigo's sign, but lo and behold, it ISN'T YELLOW! It's actually red! As crazy as it sounds, those signs can actually be painted other colors than yellow and the world doesn't end. I sure would like to know how those arches would look in blue... The last flat is Sledge Hammer, a HUSS Giant Jump 2, and the only one of its kind in the world. I can't even begin to describe this thing, so I encourage you to look up and off-ride video. It is a wondrous thing to watch and even more fun to ride. The ride looks as if it would be very violent, but the actual experience is smooth and enjoyable. I really liked this ride a lot and it truly brought out screams of pure thrill from everyone who rode it. I think that about covers the flats besides WindSeeker, and I think we all know what that ride is like. No need to go into detail here. And I think that should just about do it for the trip report!

Since we can't get Scooby back for our dark ride, we could theme it to Garfield. Garfield themed dark rides have a history of being well-loved by park goers of all ages. Oh, wait...

I will fill out my Trip report for Day 2 at Canada's Wonderland eventually, but after the 10 hours of driving to get home, I'll do it some other time.

OK, so I know it's a double post but so be it. It's time for a trip report. Today, as you know was day 1 for me at Canada's Wonderland. As at Darien Lake, my dad was with me. I'll be on my own tomorrow. But for now, it's the trip report for Day 1. We started by leaving for the park right at 9:50. Our hotel is about a block from the park, and I can see Behemoth from the window, so it was plenty of time. As we pulled into the lot, I handed the attendant my Platinum Pass, and much to my relief, it scanned and I was allowed in without a hitch. We then needed to visit Guest Services to have my dad's E-Ticket printed since we did not have access to a printer when we ordered it. This process went as smoothly as possible, and I was very happy with the quick and easy service. I breathed a sigh of relief when my Platinum Pass worked AGAIN to enter the park and I didn't run into any issues at all! When we entered the park, I stopped for a bit to admire the sight. Their International Street had enough differences from KI's to feel like a very unique place, but the general idea and the way it was laid out had me feeling right at home from the moment I stepped in the gate. I like the idea of Wonder Mountain as the park's centerpiece, I only wish it offered an observation platform. As it stands, it misses out on the biggest benefit of the Eiffel Tower that the other two Kings Parks received as a centerpiece. Still a neat idea, though, as rides can be built around it, which would be sacrilege to attempt with our beloved tower. After taking in the sights, sounds, and smells of International Street, we headed to the right toward the Medieval Faire section. I like the Medieval Faire theming for the most part. There is consistency in the decor of the area and for the most part, it has a Renaissance Fair kind of feel. Though the go-kart track seems more than a bit out of place in this section. The first ride we went to was Dragon Fire. One of the original coasters to open with the park, Dragon Fire is a classic Arrow Looper with two loops and a double corkscrew. Sadly, this ride has another pointless straight, flat stretch that could have been avoided by simply rounding out the drop and first loop. That still bugs me, but since my beloved Phantom's Revenge does it too and I can give that a pass, maybe I need to just get over it . At any rate, I like Dragon Fire well enough, I suppose. I enjoyed Viper more, but they both have the awesome leg room in the 1-1 "wedge". Still, an Arrow Looper is an essential part of any coaster lineup, and parks that don't have one are Knott completely legitimate in my book. After Dragon Fire, we headed to Leviathan, the park's biggest, baddest B&M. We had to wait a few trains to get on Leviathan, but it was worth it. I missed the feel of a B&M seat with no belts. It really took me back to the long lost days of April, 2014 . Leviathan is extremely smooth, even for a B&M. Somehow, it is smoother than Diamondback, Intimidator, and Behemoth which are by no means rough coasters AT ALL. I expected it to be another floaty B&M airtime machine, but boy was I wrong. Leviathan does certainly have a few floaty airtime hills, but it packs some serious positive Gs. I grayed out on it at the bottom of the first drop. It is one of two B&Ms that have been forceful enough to make me gray out, the other being Banshee. Leviathan is a wonderful coaster, and is near the top of my B&M list. After Leviathan, we rode WIld Beast. The name is kind of a misnomer. It leads a Cincinnati boy like me to believe that it will be like The Beast, only more wild. It certainly is no Beast, but it's a solid, albeit rough, old woodie. It is also a clone of the old Coney Island Wildcat, and offers a neat glimpse into coaster history. The ride is decent, but I've ridden so many woodies that I've liked more that it was nothing special to me. Next, we went to The Bat. The Bat is a Vekoma Boomerang with an Arrow Looper train. Specifically, Dragon Fire's former third train. I liked it more than Boomerang at Darien Lake because of the Arrow train, but I still like the new Vekoma trains more. Not a whole lot else to say here. I'm sure you all know what a Boomerang is like. After The Bat, we continued to The Fly, which had the longest line of the day at about 25 minutes. The Fly is a standard Wild Mouse coaster, but it seems to have a somewhat bigger layout. I like wild mouse coasters well enough, but they don't leave you with a lot to say. It was smooth ride for what it was, and I found it thoroughly enjoyable. The wait for this ride gave me a chance to realize that I was surrounded by FUNtv. There seemed to be some hiccups in the video feed that are not present at Kings Island. I have heard that central control for FUNtv for the entire chain is at Kings Island so perhaps there was latency in sending the stream from Mason, OH to Vaughan, ON. Otherwise, it is the same basic programming. Same music videos, same news and sports updates, and similar games. On the Behemoth Shuffle game, the ball is under cup number two for what it's worth. After The Fly, I rode Vortex. Unfortunately, it is not my six-inversion beauty, but it is a fun Arrow Suspended Coaster. The layout is very, very similar to The (current) Bat. I know it isn't quite identical, as Vortex is slightly taller and faster. The ride is no rougher or smoother than The Bat, but the brake run behaves differently. The swinging in the brake run seems to not last as long, and you do not get the fun jerking as the train rolls through the block brakes and into the station. The entire brake run also disturbingly shakes for a long time after the brakes stop the train. It is a fun coaster, but since I can ride a nearly identical one at Kings Island whose quirks are more enjoyable to me, Vortex is not a must-ride for me. Next, we headed around the lake and over to the Mighty Canadian Minebuster. This is a solid woodie, and like Wild Beast, a clone of a Coney Island classic. This time, it is a clone of the Shooting Star. I really enjoyed this woodie. It starts with your typical out-and-back layout like you'd find on Racer, but it ends in a forceful upward helix through a tunnel. It offers a unique twist on a familiar classic, and I like this coaster a lot. After this, I went to Skyrider. Unfortunately, my dad was not able to buckle the seatbelt on this one, so I rode alone. Skyrider is a Togo Standup that (to my knowledge) is an exact clone of King Cobra, which I never got to ride. It offered very forceful airtime, literally lifting me off the floor of the train. As much as I liked the airtime, this ride is a major headbanger, and this fact basically ruined the experience. Still, I am happy for the opportunity to (almost) ride this Kings Island classic that I had missed out on. Next up was Time Warp, the park's Zamperla Flying coaster. I don't have a whole lot to say about this one, except that you should not follow the advice of Rocky Horror Picture Show. When at Canada's Wonderland, let's NOT do the Time Warp again. Keeping up our cavalcade of concussive coasters, we headed for Flight Deck. The layout is identical to Darien Lake's Mind Eraser. I enjoyed Mind Eraser. Flight Deck was nothing short of unpleasant. It lived up to the Vekoma "Hang n' Bang" nickname. Not to mention, the entry path is far longer than the one to Kings Island's former Flight Deck. Between the pain and the entry path, it is a decidedly NOT re-rideable coaster. Almost finishing up the loop, we headed to Backlot Stunt Coaster. The trains looked sharp with fresh paint, but the ride made me sad. The helicopter scene doesn't work. At all. You just cruise right through. It is truly depressing. My appreciation for our little forgotten Backlot has increased dramatically. Finally, it was time for Behemoth. Behemoth is pretty much standard fare for a B&M Hyper. Lots of floaty airtime hills and very little in the way of positive G's. It does have two very fun helices back to back. I wish Diamondback had better helices, because those were a lot of fun. It does have seatbelts like Diamondback, and the loading is not bad. They are checking seatbelts and lap bars together in one go, contrary to some reports. I also rode most of the flats and two of the coasters in the kids areas, but since I have to fill a trip report tomorrow anyway, I'll go into more detail on those then. suffice it to say, they have a very unique and interesting assortment of flats, and I look forward to writing that part of the trip report.

Sorry, Merthecat. I would happily rob people from the Carolinas of their beloved ride and childhood memories to bring it back to Ohio where it belongs. No hard feelings. I'd even let you have Backlot Stunt Coaster in exchange

Don't forget either that Marineland Canada would not be very far out of your way either. -homestar92, ever helpful. Oh, and the Canada's Wonderland part of the trip report will be coming later after I've had dinner.

And now, Day 3 of my trip report. We headed out of our hotel and got breakfast and my dad got out our passports. Looking at mine, I saw that he had mistakenly grabbed my old, expired one. We had made rather expensive, non-refundable hotel reservations, so our only option was to get that passport! But we were in Buffalo, NY and my passport was in Fairfield, OH. Fortunately, my mom was able to meet us halfway near Cleveland (Thanks, Mom!), and we retrieved my passport after 4 hours of driving. Another 4 hours later, we were back where we started. We proceeded to the USA/Canada border and sat for 45 minutes in line to get through. Then, we got on the Queen Elizabeth Way en route to Toronto. It was here that I saw the glorious sight of a speed limit sign indicating a speed limit of 100. Then I realized, we're in the Metric system now, and I was really only going 60 MPH. There was heavy traffic on the QEW (presumably Victoria Day traffic) and it took us over 2 hours to get to our hotel in Vaughan. All in all, I'm glad I set aside a whole day for travel from Darien Lake to Canada's Wonderland, but we made it despite our snag. No trip can ever go perfectly without a hitch. I'll be at Canada's Wonderland tomorrow, but unfortunately, it is looking like Wonder Mountain's Guardian will not yet be open. I am disappointed, since I really wanted to experience that ride, but the park offers many other unique attractions, so I can't complain. I will report on day 1 at the park tomorrow. Oh, and Devan, The Beast's long, flat straightway drives me completely bonkers, and as much as I love the ride, I think it is a massive blemish on an otherwise spectacular coaster. As a side note, navigating a foreign country with no GPS and a map that doesn't show great detail is not fun or recommended.

The following is my Day 2 Trip Report (Darien Lake). No pics because I'm lazy and can't be bothered to use my slow old iPhone 4 any more than I need to. We left our hotel around 9:30 to get breakfast and be at the park for their 10:30 opening. I headed to Ride of Steel first since I figured it would have the longest waits later. This technically did happen, as it was generally a 15 minute wait while everything else was a walk-on all day . Crowds were so light that every coaster was on one-train operation, and with the exception of Ride of Steel, rows were usually empty. I was very surprised to see this on a weekend, particularly a weekend that for people just a few miles away in Canada, is a holiday weekend. Before we got on Ride of Steel, we went to The Predator since it was on the way and nobody was in line. It's a fun little Dinn Woodie, but for everyone who thinks Mean Streak is rough, I laugh at you. You don't even KNOW rough until you ride Predator. It was still enjoyable as I don't mind rough coasters and it had some surprising pops of airtime throughout. Solid coaster overall. We ended up going to Ride of Steel next. As an aside, I will note that from what I heard people calling rides today, Darien Lake also suffers from what I call "Kings Island Syndrome" a disease in which peoples' minds are stuck in time and they continue calling coasters by names they haven't had for many years. I heard many people refer to this ride as "Superman" which would have been incomplete in 2006, and is outright incorrect in 2014. But I digress. Ride of Steel is an Intamin hypercoaster with some killer airtime (ba dum tss) and surprisingly forceful lateral g's in its two ginormous helices. Unfortunately, I have to dock points because it commits the one unforgivable sin of coaster design in my book: It contains a long, flat, straight stretch of track that is neither a launch strip nor a brake run. I don't see why. There was plenty of room for a bunny hill or series of S-bends a la Backlot, or ANYTHING but a long, straight, flat stretch. Despite this point deduction, I enjoyed the ride and it looks like Diamondback gets to retain its title as my LEAST favorite hypercoaster. Heading in a circle around the park, out next stop was Boomerang. Being that it is a typical Vekoma Boomerang, I don't feel a need to go into great detail. It wasn't "rough" as people often describe Boomerangs, but certainly forceful, and not always in a good way. Sitting in my seat while the train climbed the lift hill was a bit uncomfortable, moreso even than the same experience on Invertigo. Being a Cedar Fair regular, it is very odd riding an inverting coaster with no seat belts. The only other Boomerang I had ridden previously was the Carolina Cobra, and I preferred that one. The new style Vekoma trains are much more comfortable than the old ones and are among my favorite train designs ever. I find them even more comfortable than the OTSRs seen on Banshee and Gatekeeper (post collarbone fix). This Boomerang uses the old ones, however, and I'd really rather see Arrow trains a la The Bat at Canada's Wonderland or new Vekoma trains a la the Carolina Cobra. After this coaster, we continued our loop toward MotoCoaster. MotoCoaster was another one that I had to wait a bit for, but it wasn't too bad. I honestly wasn't a huge fan. I could not handle that seat design on a long coaster. The restraints were not very comfortable, and it is generally not a fun position to be in while riding a coaster. Plus, the ride has one awkward bump that seems to throw you to the left just before a relatively sharp right turn, leading to a bit of unpleasantness. Not an unenjoyable coaster, but I could certainly take it or leave it. I'd much rather have a Wild Mouse since the footprint is similar and the ride is much more fun. Fortunately, when that was done, it was time for Viper Viper is a classic Arrow Looper with a queuing area that seems to be longer than the one on The Bat. It was worth the walk though, as it is my new favorite Arrow Looper (besides my beloved Vortex, that is ). It has a single loop, a batwing, and then a double corkscrew, bringing its total to five inversions. It was the first coaster with this many, and I've now ridden the first coasters with 3, 4, 5, and 6 inversions. I really like Viper. Its solid black color scheme looks surprisingly nice. The decals on the trains cover the entire thing in a green, scaly, reptilian pattern that really pops against the black track. Plus, if you sit in 1-1, you are treated to a fully open foot area. Imagine if the entire "wedge" on the first car of Vortex was open. That is the kind of leg room you get, and it is AWESOME. The ride's finale has a surprisingly smooth helix for an early 80s Arrow Looper and they even throw in a tunnel for some extra fun. I really can't recommend this coaster enough. And then it was the moment I'd been dreading... Mind Eraser. My first Vekoma SLC. I boarded the train with dread after hearing the descriptions of the pain and headbanging that comes with these rides. After riding it, all I can say is that y'all are a bunch of babies. It really wasn't THAT bad. Would I rather be on a B&M Invert? Oh, without a doubt. But the ride was fun, and for a small park, I think they are certainly worth the comparatively small price tag. I rode it another two times and would do so again (and will do so, kinda, when I go to Canada's Wonderland on Tuesday). it was definitely not a coaster to write home about, but it was not bad by any stretch of the imagination. After Mind Eraser, we got lunch at the Beaver Brothers Lakeside Cafe, a full-service sit-down restaurant in the park. I had a macaroni and cheese burger, which is exactly as it sounds: a hamburger topped with Macaroni and Cheese. It was decent. I happily finished it, but wouldn't likely order it again for the price. The restaurant was also eerily empty, and as much as you'd THINK complete silence in a restaurant would be a good thing, it is really very strange. After lunch, we made another loop around the park and hit the coasters. I also got some flat rides in, and for the record, I still REALLY don't like Enterprises. Though I got to ride my first non-giant Top Spin and I liked it a lot. I continued getting re-rides until we decided to leave the park to have dinner at Denny's. And then we discovered the holy grail. Across the street from the park, maybe a quarter mile down the road is their storage area. We pulled off the road and took a peek and I caught a glimpse of the remains of Batman The Escape. It was moved to Darien Lake in 2005 and put into storage there. The ride never got installed at the park. I do not know if it was supposed to be or what its fate will be, but the track pieces are not looking too hot after laying in a field for nearly a decade. After returning to the park, we got in a quick ride on Ride of Steel and Predator and then waited for their nightly laser light show "Ignite the Night". The show was very well done and technologically impressive. I enjoyed it even more than KI's nightly fireworks. Very well done for a small park. At the conclusion of the show we left the park and retired to our hotel room. Overall, Darien Lake is a wonderful park with a good variety of rides, but I'm not sure they're quite ready to be a destination park. If it is on your way to somewhere you are already going (as it was for me) then I highly recommend it. But it probably isn't really worth a special dedicated trip.

This is a work in progress, and will function as a journal of sorts. This first post will be edited many times over the next few days, so check back later to see if I've updated it. I was going to get some nice pictures, but I accidentally left my DSLR and my Point-and-Shoot at home, and I didn't realize until I was about to Erie, PA. So any pictures I post will come from my the decent (as phone cameras go) camera in my iPhone 4. So for day 1, all I've got is that my father and I left around 11 AM to head for Buffalo. After a long, uneventful drive filled with many smartphone searches for hotel rooms (I was searching from the passenger seat. No browsing and driving here), we arrived at the only hotel we could find with good reviews at a decent price, the Lockport Inn and Suites in Lockport, NY. The hotel is decently nice, but very old fashioned. The rooms are clean and the staff is friendly, and thus far I don't have any major complaints, though I am slightly weirded out by the carpeted bathrooms. We ate at a little Italian Restaurant in town called Molinaro's Ristorante, and we ordered a pizza. It was very good and very large, and we took over half back to the hotel (whch fortunately has a mini-fridge and microwave in every room). After that we went to a local store called Top's Friendly Market that sells Darien Lake tickets at a discounted price. Finally, I'm here writing the first part of this trip report from the hotel, and looking forward to a fun day at a theme park (though not a FUN park, as that part of the trip will come Tuesday and Wednesday). Be sure to tune in tomorrow for the exciting continuation of this trip report!

Premier coasters have always soared to the top of my favorites list like a Sky Rocket.

If you passed the sign for a car dealership, it was probably the Kings Automall, which is just a few miles south of Kings Island on Interstate 71.

Not to mention, the ride's computer would not allow more than one train on the lift hill. The lift hill is one block section, and you can't have two trains in the same block for safety reasons.

Not to mention, the supports have a nice glossy shine now. Prior to the paint job, they looked dull, flat, and faded. Even a fresh coat of the same color would have been an improvement. But I like the new colors even better.

Flight of Fear. It seems to be a popular choice since you don't really get the privilege of knowing what you're about to ride.

Did they change anything else with the restraints? Does Vortex still have the belt? No, the restraints are the same, sans belt. Vortex still has the belt.

Which never made sense to me, considering that to get to its entrance, you have to walk through the Planet Snoopy entry arch thing.

Well, the oldest Arrow coaster is from 1959 and it's still going strong, so that may be a while. Heck, even the first Arrow looping coaster is still operating and it was built in 1975, so Vortex should still have a lot of life left in her.