Ride On_17

Hey guys! It's been awhile since I've been active on here, but figured I'd make my way back to share about an exciting event that was held this past weekend at Ohio State. I'm the VP of our Theme Park Engineering Group, essentially a group of students of any major and background who have interest in the amusement industry, and we hosted the first ever student-led themed entertainment industry conference. Named SITE OSU (Students in Themed Entertainment), it has been in the works since October and took lots of planning and effort from our club, especially the committee that was responsible for organizing and putting it all together. It was such an incredible, fun, and successful event, and I did a write-up/report on it which I figured I would share here for your enjoyment and to learn about what exactly that conference entailed. In summary, there were 65 college students from across the midwest that attended, over a dozen industry professionals, and a full day filled with presentations, networking, and friendship. Several professionals gave really cool presentations about their respective jobs and companies, and we also hosted a student project fair to share what we all have been working on with relation to engineering and the amusement industry. Add in lots of time to casually and informally socialize all together and build industry connections, and it was an amazing conference. Here are just a few pictures from the event, and be sure to check out my full report found here to learn all the event details and see the rest of the pictures from the weekend!

I wrote up a detailed element-by-element ride review as well as a full media day photo trip report, feel free to check it out! I still can't stop thinking about this incredible new coaster. http://thrillsawait.weebly.com/trip-reports/element-by-element-review-and-steel-vengeance-media-day-delight

It was such an incredible day! My first media day experience and being a part of the world premiere of one the most, if not the most anticipated coasters ever, was something I'll never forget. Thank you Cedar Point for putting on such an incredible event and for bringing us this world class coaster along with RMC. It became my new #1 after my first ride. 8 rides later, it holds that title even firmer, and I'd dare say it's the best coaster on the planet. I'll be posting a full photo trip report soon with in-depth analysis and opinions on the ride, but for now, WOW. What a truly legendary ride.

Check out all about my Winter Chill Out experience at Cedar Point this past weekend! It was an amazing event, and getting an up-close experience with Steel Vengeance was definitely a highlight. http://thrillsawait.weebly.com/trip-reports/off-season-awe-and-steel-vengeance-stupor-cp-winter-chill-out-2018

That's so awesome! Definitely right up there with my interests, I've just started reading through your thesis and am excited to continue it. So far it's fascinating!

Hey everyone! As some of you may know, I currently run two blogs: Thrills Await is focused on amusement parks such as trip reports and photography, and Urbanetics is more related to my academic interests (urban planning, architecture, aesthetics, etc). My most recent Urbanetics blog post actually incorporates the best of both worlds, looking at the planning and design that goes into creating our beloved amusement parks. I figured I'd share it here, since I figured many of you might find it interesting. I talk about several urban planning and design concepts such as placemaking (essentially creating a sense of place, beauty, and welcoming in public spaces) and how they apply to amusement park planning and design. Hopefully it gives insight into both the urban planning and themed entertainment industries and how they are interconnected. Hopefully you enjoy it! https://urbanetics.wordpress.com/2017/11/03/the-art-of-amusement-parks-people-place-and-planning-for-thrills/ I figured it could also be fun to start a conversation, so feel free to share any relevant insight or opinions. This could be anything from your favorite midways, plazas, or design elements of Kings Island (or any other park), as well as your own personal reasons why you like some areas better than others. Or if you have any fun memorizes associated with a specific location in the park, feel free to share that as well!

All new photo trip report is up from Cedar Point's closing day! Between my first ever Dragster rollback to the last train of the season on Millennium Force, it was quite the way to end an incredible 2017 season. http://thrillsawait.weebly.com/trip-reports/my-first-dragster-rollback-the-last-train-on-millie-and-an-end-to-the-2017-season-cp-closing-day-1029

Steel Vengeance Speechlessness and HalloWeekends Horror...Check out my latest trip report from Cedar Point this past Friday, 9/29. Plus I added an all new gallery featuring SV construction updates! http://thrillsawait.weebly.com/trip-reports/steel-vengeance-speechlessness-and-halloweekends-horror-cp-92917

Dollar Days, massive chili cheese fries, and lots of great rides! Check it out in my latest blog post! http://thrillsawait.weebly.com/trip-reports/dollar-day-deliciousness-and-rockin-rides-kings-island-93

On Friday, 8/11 I was able to visit KI for the second time this year! I had an awesome trip filled with tons of great riding. Read all about it and check out some cool pics in my latest report! http://thrillsawait.weebly.com/trip-reports/night-rides-or-bust-kings-island-8-11

I decided to bring this topic back rather than creating a new one. The new 2017 Halloweekends Haunt website is live, showing that 3 haunts will be retired and replaced. Eternity Infirmary, Eden Musee, and Fear-y Tales will be getting the axe while Deprivation: No Way Out, Fearyground Freakshow, and Harvest Fear will all be new. An interesting thing to note is that Harvest Fear is listed as being in Frontiertown. However, with Tombstone Terror-tory and Cut Throat Cove already existing, plus Maniacal Mechanical Screamworks and CornStalkers along the Frontier Trail, I have no clue where this scare zone will be. I don't see where there's room back there for yet another one. Deprivation sounds like it will be a black out maze which I'm excited about since I've never experienced one before, and Freakshow sounds like what the name suggests. I'll be curious to find out what all that entails and how it's themed. Something of particular interest is that Midnight Syndicate is returning again for daily live shows. I'm thrilled about this, since I thoroughly enjoyed their performances a few years back when they were at Halloweekends. It was actually one of the highlights for me, and I can't wait to see what they do this year. Thank you Cedar Point for bringing them back! What are your thoughts on these new haunts as well as anything else about the upcoming HalloWeekends/Haunt? https://www.cedarpoint.com/halloweekends/haunt/

I'm torn about this announcement. I absolutely love Universal and the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, as well their innovative use of technology and special effects to create immersive experiences. However I thought Dueling Dragons (both ride layouts) were among some of the best B&M inverts so I hope they get relocated rather than simply scrapped. Regardless, I will be excited to see what the replacement is. It sounds like it will be yet another groundbreaking and innovative ride.

On Friday I made it back to CP for the first time in a month (crazy for me!). It was great to be back, and between checking out progress on Mean Streak and getting in some awesome night rides, the whole day was memorable. http://thrillsawait.weebly.com/trip-reports/theyrecoming-thrills-and-maverick-marathons-back-to-the-point-721

On a road trip back home from the east coast last week, I had to make a detour at Dorney Park for a few hours. Check out this latest trip report about my time spent at the park! http://thrillsawait.weebly.com/trip-reports/crowds-craziness-and-coasters-dorney-park-715

Hands down airtime for me. I absolutely love the feeling of weightlessness and flying out of your seat, so I especially prefer ejector air. However, I do love long, drawn out inversions especially barrel rolls/inline twists/etc. That twist on Banshee is one of my favorite coaster elements ever, but I still have to give it to airtime for winning this one. I realized that only 1 coaster in my top 10 has inversions (Maverick), so I guess that's pretty obvious that I prefer coasters with speed and airtime over inversions.