MDMC01

BB1, I actually feel the opposite. I loved Backwoods and thought it was well themed, like Ouimet had his hand in it with all the beautiful greenery and fog. Also, it liked that it was longer than Cornstalkers was and I was actually disoriented as to where I was in the park when I got out. However, Urgent Scare seemed to build up to something that never really happened. Maybe there weren't many Scareactors, i dunno. Let's agree to disagree, though

I still agree with my experimental-prototype themed launch wing-coaster I discussed a while back, especially now after having ridden Thunderbird! I thought of a cool idea... make a launched wing coaster (or another launched coaster) with a station and the first part set in a futuristic lab, and then if DA were to get the axe, have it go in the forest to display how the "creature" would do in a natural setting (or it could escape from the lab). If the coaster had a lift instead (I'm thinking a Mega-lite or a Wing coaster for this example), have the thing be set free from the lab to a natural environment, slowly rolling out of the station and cautious of it's new surroundings. Just my thoughts! I vote for the colors to be the colors of Stealth (formally at California's Great America) or maybe Forest Green track and orange trains/white seats Stealth colors here: https://rcdb.com/583.htm#p=586

I voted for no redesign and a Vekoma Flying Dutchman (as I prefer Firehawk to Superman at SFGAM. Even though I love the historical significance of Vekoma Flyers (as they were a product of the early 2000's, when coaster designers stumbled upon this new innovation), I would love to see a custom B&M flyer closer to KI. EDIT: To chime in about the waiting on the brake run face down on a B&M flyer, I thought this would be weird, but on-ride, I felt secure, like I was waiting on the brake run of any other coaster.

And now we wait for the announcement...

Tom + Chee! Shutupandtakemymoney*! Seriously, though, I know where I'll be eating next Friday night! *Futurama reference, for those who don't know

So, there's really only one coaster I almost always wait for the front for if it has a reasonable wait, and that is The Bat. Though the front is cool on FoF, Beast and Adventure Express, I usually have other go-to seats I more prefer/more frequent (FoF and Beast, I tend to like to sit near the front, AE I tend to almost always sit in the 2nd to last seat).

If the Kingdom decided not to ressurrect the Dragsters for 2017, I feel that a Sky Rocket coaster (see Tempesto at BGW and Superman at SFDK) would be amazing there. Something like that would defentely make me want to return for 2017. Then again, so would T3, Cyclos, and getting a chance to ride their older body slides... EDIT: As for new features, I could see a VR'd Storm Chaser or maybe a small spinning figure 8 coaster.

I like the idea of a KIC meetup to do this... I've never been to COSI, but I've heard many interesting things about "Adventure". I'm in for one last trip (well, one and only for me) before it gets replaced by... dinos!?!?

Gotta say, the music tonight <i> was </i> pretty amazing!

I also nominate malem as the new mod for our beloved website. As many have said, he helps coordinate a ton of meetups on here and I just think he'd be a fair moderator.

Soaring Timbers looks cool. I agree, Canada's Wonderland does have a unique collection of flats, and I love how Cedar Fair finds the uniqueness in each park (Knott's history, KI's nostalgia/filling in coaster gaps, Canada's collection of flats, Cedar Point's coaster collection, etc.) and makes it better.

Thanks for starting this; it'll be just like 2013 with Banshee's construction progress rendering!

I just read your HW trip report to weigh in after just getting back from my HW trip; good stuff. I'm glad you liked Thunderbird and Legend. Also, yes, Voyage is crazy. Also, let's agree to disagree about Raven. It was good, but I liked the other 3 coasters better. Also, i liked how you referred to T-Bird's mountain as Mt. Thunderbird

Leg 2- Holiday World- 8/20/2016 Hey all, I recently went to Holiday World with my Uncle Scott and we had a fantastic time. Here’s what went on: My Uncle and I got there around 9:45 Central Time and got our tickets. After getting a locker and our picture with Santa, we waited at the entrance of the Halloween section for the park to open. At 10:00 the park opened and I (as well as about a third of the crowd) headed for The Raven as my first ride of the day. I sat near the front (1-2) and had a pleasant, but short ride. While riding, I thought it would be really cool at night as it speeds through the woods. I then headed to The Legend; I was really looking forward to riding this as this was allegedly dubbed “The Y2K Coaster” by the late Will Koch (according to his siblings via the 2016 announcement video). I rode up front and it did not disappoint as I thought it was better than Raven. I then rode again to see what it was like in the back, and I really liked it. I was getting a bit hungry, so I got a hot dog at Goblin Burgers, which was actually pretty good. After the hot dog, we decided to head over to Thanksgiving to ride The Voyage. I rode in 1-3 and thought it was really cool. It had elements that reminded of Racer, Beast and Lightning Racer. I then decided to ride it again in the back, which was super insane and semi-painful as I kept hitting my knees on the lapbar. Since I needed a breather, we both decided to ride Gobbler Getaway. Upon seeing the ride, I immediately thought of the “Where’s Goble” thread and the ”Goble Getaway” sign. It was a refreshing take on the shoot-em up dark rides, and the surprise twist at the end was pretty funny. After getting some R&R by calling turkeys, I decided to climb the mountain to the last new coaster of the trip, Thunderbird. Thunderbird is America’s only launched wing coaster, and it looks so cool. I rode in the 3rd row on the right wing and enjoyed it. Since there was a bit of a line, I didn’t get a second ride right away, though I wanted to (more on that later…) . Afterwards, I decided to stick around and ride Crow’s Nest, which is similar to Skycatcher at Kentucky Kingdom, though much shorter and with a slightly different ride cycle. It was fun and I came back down the mountain to meet my uncle. After ascending and decending the mountain, I decided to ride Voyage again. I got 1-3 again and it was good, but still very crazy. I then decided to hit up Turkey Whirl as I love tilt-a-whirls. It was pretty fun and I got some really good spins from it (though I did inadvertently cause people to wait longer to get off as my turkey took longer to slow down as I’d leaned to give it more spin before the cycle ended). Afterwards, I headed back to The Legend to get another out-of-control ride. By now, I came to the conclusion that those building coasters in the year 2000 preferred turn-drops and helixes on their wooden coasters as these features could be seen on other coasters of the time such as Son of Beast and other RCCA creations. I then headed back to The Raven as I’d wanted to ride it in the back to see what it was like. It was ok, but thrashed me around a bit, which was crazy. Afterwards, I was considering riding Legend again, but my uncle wanted to see the 2 PM Dive show. Since the line for The Legend seemed longer the last time I rode, I decided to head to the Dive Show first as I didn’t think I could make it back in time. The show itself was good and the people were talented as well (also, I liked that I knew most of the show’s music from other sources). I thought the one interesting thing is that the host advised us to clap after they surfaced from the water as they couldn’t hear our applause underwater. After the show, it was back to The Legend again for another out-of control ride. I then rode again as I wanted to test a theory about riding in the right seat as I got bashed around on the right side from the last ride. My theory was correct as my right side didn’t hurt as much after that ride. I was going to take another solo ride, but my uncle decided to join me for what would be my 6th and final Legend ride. We sat near the front and he really enjoyed it. After going six twisty rounds with The Legend, we decided at long last to head to the Fourth of July section of the park, which we had previously not explored. Once there, I decided to get on Raging Rapids, the park’s rapid ride. I rode with 7 other people I hadn’t met and it was really fun; there’s just something about those types of rides I just love. Also, there was this random tunnel at the very beginning which seemingly served very little purpose as you didn’t get wet in there but it was cool nonetheless. Also, there were geysers, which did get a majority of our party wet. When we reached these, I proudly told of the exploits of our own Thrill Biscuit on WWC’s cannons. After coming off with my left pant leg soaked, my uncle got some ice cream while I watched one of the Rock the World shows (The Christian concert series Rock the World occurred on that day and some of the bands played on a stage inside the park while others played in a special, much larger venue). After rocking out to a drum-filled electronic song, we walked a ways and my uncle wanted me to try Plinko. He paid once for two tries, and I ended up winning the equivalent of a Front of the Line pass for 2. Luckily, I knew exactly which ride I wanted to use it on- Thunderbird. However, after winning at Plinko, we didn’t head back there just yet. Instead, I wanted to ride Revolution, which is a Round Up, similar to Electric Rainbow at Stricker’s Grove. However, I soon saw this was way different as it immediately lifted you 45 degrees and then started quickly spinning. After that craziness, I headed over to Liberty Launch. I got two unexpected bursts of airtime when reaching the top, and it was pretty fun overall. I then made my final 4th of July ride Eagles Flight. Eagles Flight was good, but the rudder had little to no control. Somehow, I still soared high, which was nice. After meeting up with my uncle (he rode the train while I rode the Eagles), I decided to make the trek back to Thunderbird to use my Front of the Line pass (my uncle didn’t want to go with as he’s not much of a rides guy- therefore, I was a bit surprised when he wanted to take that final lap with me on The Legend!). At the top, I had to wait about 2-3 cycles, but the ride op was really cool about letting just 1 person use the pass that was made for 2. I chose right wing again and sat in the front. Again, it was a really nice ride and I love how you really feel like you’re flying!. Since the standby line wasn’t too bad, I rode again, this time trying the left wing in the very back. The launch was more powerful back there, and it was interesting to see how the near misseses (supports, shed, etc.) differ from side to side. After coming down the mountain once again, I decided to head back to Voyage. It was about this time that the skies started to darken and get super ominous. They had previously sounded the severe weather alert twice during the day, and we’d gotten pretty lucky with just a few sprinkles or even sunshine. I got front seat and faced the angry grey sky. It was a good ride, but when we got the brake run, the rain just decided to pour and I got soaked. I could tell the rides were down for weather (there was lightning/thunder in the area) as they sent out an empty train in order to get us back into the station. Once in the station, I rushed around to find my uncle and ended up slipping in one of the free refill stations. After getting myself up, I searched the Voyage store for him but didn’t find him. We finally reunited in the bathroom and waited for the rain to dissipate. When the rain died down, we’d leave soon afterwards as I was getting pretty tired. However, on the way out, I went over to see if Frightful Falls had opened up yet as it was the only ride on the dry side that I had not yet ridden that I’d wanted to ride. However, when I got down to the line, the ride op said I couldn’t get in line. I waited for a few minutes, then decided to continue with our plans (I was going to get pictures and souvenirs before we left for our hotel). So, I got my stuff from the locker, gave my uncle the stuff I didn’t need (as he was going to the car) and snapped a bunch of pictures of the various rides and area signs. Along the way, I came across an ACER plaque by The Raven, which was cool. I got super sentimental by Thunderbird as it’s such a unique and great coaster (while Mystic Timbers is a fantastic addition to the park, I think KI needs to get a launched wing coaster asap). Oddly enough, as my picture-taking session was winding down, the storm was clearing, so rides started to open back up. Even so, I decided to buy some pins (Voyage/Legend and Thunderbird) and a Thunderbird shirt before heading for the gate. Overall, it was a fantastic day and I had a blast at the park whose coasters could signify quality over quantity. For those wondering how I’d rank the wooden coasters, I’d go Raven>Voyage>Legend. Thunderbird is truly in a class of its own as a smooth, modern B&M in a lot of slightly cantankerous wooden coasters with a lot of personality. Also, I did not make it to the water park as I wasn’t really planning on that (Sorry malem!). However, some of the water slides were on my list of rides in case I stopped over there. We also did not make it to Rock the World as we didn’t purchase tickets, however, I did hear one song in the park as I mentioned earlier. My next stop on #TheRoadto100 should be Carowinds, but I don’t know if I’ll make it there this year. If I can’t make it down there in 2016, I’d like to ride Sea Dragon or Valravn before tackling Carowinds as Carolina Cobra is being re-themed (this was originally going to be one of my lead-up coasters to Nighthawk, but the re-theme changes things a bit). For those who’d like a list of the rides I rode, see below: Rides: Crow’s Nest: 1 Eagles Flight: 1 Gobbler Getaway: 1 Legend: 6 Liberty Launch: 1 Raging Rapids: 1 Raven: 2 Revolution: 1 Thunderbird: 3 Turkey Whirl: 1 Voyage: 4

I heard the announcement on the radio earlier today and I'm super excited for Winterfest to return. I was too young for Winterfest in its first incarnation and didn't attend the 2005 version. It'll be exciting to see the park all decked out in Christmas gear just like it was during Christmas in July (which I loved!). And somehow, I'm also interested to ice skate at the park as I haven't skated in years! EDIT: Oh, and don't forget SANTA!!!! (meant to be screamed in the voice of Buddy the Elf lol)

Good stuff; glad you were brave enough to try some fairground rides. They look cool, but I get nervous on them. Outside of a "salt-and-pepper-shaker" ride at a local festival, I've only been on a handful of fair rides- a giant Ferris Wheel, a scrambler, chairswings, a kiddie ride that took you up and around, and a portable carousel. Also, I looked up Remix on Youtube and it looks insane.

Just so you know, I "liked" your post as it is interesting to me, not because I like another change in the show. Also, I forget which one is "Suspenders". I know who Jorge and Sam/Yannick are (the other "gnomes"), but don't remember what Suspenders looks like.

I can't make it, but for those who can, have fun! My guess: Winterfest revival or a flat ride.

Since we are on the topic of zen rides, I've gotten zen rides on all three water rides, The Bat (during a Haunt night) and Flight of Fear. The Bat zen ride was pretty cool.

You are correct, sir; I apologize; I've only ridden Mountain Twist. So this also means they'll have two mat racing slide complexes... Yup, they're covered alright!

I do like the colors, though I think this is an interesting addition as Dollywood already has a mat slide in the form of Mountain Twist. This would mean Dollywood will have two mat slides in 2017 and I don't know of any other waterpark that does...