East Coast Trip Report 8/21 - 8/26

[gad198]

Overview:

My brother and I decided to head east and do an end of summer blowout trip. The ultimate schedule we decided upon ended up looking like this:

8/21 - Dorney Park and Great Adventure

8/22 - Basketball Hall of Fame (Springfield, MA) and evening trip to SFNE

8/23 - morning trip to SFNE and evening trip to Great Adventure

8/24 - New York City and Mets game

8/25 - Great Adventure and Phillies game

8/26 - Kings Dominion and evening trip to Busch Gardens Williamsburg

The rain on Sunday and Monday forced us to miss Lake Compounce entirely, which was a small downer because Boulder Dash is one of the few upper echelon coasters in the country I still haven't made it on. I've commented on most of these parks already in other reports so I'll try and keep the rest of the commentary limited to the highlights.

Dorney Park:

We got to the park Saturday around 5 and the parking lot was full. There were also people parking in grass lots adjacent to the park. Yikes. It seemed as though most folks were there for the waterpark, but even the dry side of the park was crazy busy. We did a quick scan of some of the lines...half an hour and up for the major stuff. Uh, yeah, there's not anything that outstanding at the park, so we decided to take a detour to Great Adventure.

Great Adventure (three visits total):

We got into the park around 8:30 on Saturday and quickly realized that we made a very wise decision. The park was open til 10 and tons of people were pouring out like there was a fire drill. Awesome!

Short lines were really the theme here for each of our three visits. I think the longest wait for any ride was ten minutes for Kingda Ka. I'm sure the so-so weather was largely responsible for that, but it was good to be able to get major riding in. Speaking of the coasters...

Kingda Ka...hum, at least now I have a definitive answer to the Kingda Ka vs. TTD debate. TTD wins HANDS DOWN. TTD is definitely much smoother, and Intamin lap bars are better than their horrid OTSRs. Let me make this clear, however; I don't think either ride is worth more than a half hour wait (unless you're riding for the first time). Just out of curiosity, has anyone ever gotten airtime on the "airtime" hill?

El Toro...this ride continues to impress. My brother liked this better than Bizarro at SFNE, and I think that the two do feel very similar in many respects. I will say that El Toro was delivering world-class rides, and we got 10 total rides during our visits. Back seat continues to be the way to go here.

Nitro...I never really thought that this was in the same league as the newer B&M hypers (Goliath @ SFOG and newer). Part of that may have been the fact that I've only ridden it on cooler days or very early or late in the season. Every Nitro ride this time around was nothing but airtime-filled fun. I finally got appreciable air on both the second and third hills, and I love the layout on this coaster. It's certainly in my top 10 steel now.

Basketball Hall of Fame:

I've never been to a professional hall of fame before, but this stop was a great initiation into that world. The building itself was a little smaller than I thought it would be, but it still boasted many impressive exhibits that really did a nice job of covering everything about the evolution of the game. My favorite exhibit there was a Michael Jordan exhibit that featured all of the Air Jordan shoes that Nike has produced in the line. If you happen to be making a trip to Six Flags New England I'd highly recommend a stop here as well.

Six Flags New England:

It was my first time to this park, and I thought the park was quite charming. The only thing I couldn't go for was the layout of the park. Getting from ride to ride was very confusing and was like driving on the streets of Boston!

Bizarro...not much to say about this ride that hasn't been said. I knew that this would probably be my #1 steel and it most definitely is! The airtime you get in the first two cars of this coaster is simply unlike anything I've ridden to this point. I only have two points of contention:

First, the coaster is WAY better in the front than it is in the back. If there's one knock on the Intamin hypers/gigas is that they only give you the great air in the front of the trains. The front is mind-blowing but the back is merely "very good".

Second, the restraints on this coaster keep this from being a perfect ride. If this coaster had the MF/TTD restraints it would be unquestionably perfect, but the restraints just dig in so much to your thighs that it makes it uncomfortable for power riding. A small complaint admittedly, but now I know why people who rode this in its original configuration always glow when they talk about it.

New York City:

My first time to the Big Apple in more than 20 years. I must say that I was very pleasantly surprised with the city. The city is very clean by big city standards, has so much to do and sports a very diverse population. You can clearly tell that it's a very fast-paced city as soon as you arrive, but there's nothing like the energy that flows out of that city.

Times Square was awesome, the Empire State building is just huge and Wall Street was just like it looks in pictures. It was a little chilling walk by the World Trade Center site, but judging by the pictures of what's coming in there in the future I'd say they've found a worthy replacement for the site. It looks like it's going to be absolutely fabulous.

Citi Field, home of the Mets, is an absolute can't miss stop if you're into baseball. I've been to roughly half of the major league parks and this park ranks way up there. The stadium is absolutely gorgeous and evokes a very old-time feel. What a great place to watch a game.

Kings Dominion:

I've now ridden Intimidator 305 in its pre- and post-trim configurations, and I'll just say this...the ride now is MUCH more re-rideable for the GP. The ride is MUCH worse now for the enthusiasts out there. Some quick comparisons:

First drop: way better before the trim installation than after. The trim grabs very hard and gives you that "WTF?" feeling, especially if you're riding in the back. You fall for a second or two and then BAM, you're slowing down. The funny thing is that many folks, including yours truly, still grayed out! What a disgrace.

Airtime: the ride before never had copious amounts of airtime, but what airtime it did has essentially been nullified. There is ZERO airtime on the first airtime hill where before it had a very nice sustained float. There used to be a little airtime during the twisty sections, which is now gone. The second big airtime hill has a VERY small float, but interestingly enough the next little hump actually does have a bit of float now.

Ride experience: as I mentioned, the ride now is much better for the GP, but for the enthusiast crowd it lost a lot of punch. There is a definite decrease in speed, so that's made the twisty sections much less (but still very) aggressive. The last twisty part banged my head even though I anticipated the turn. WTH? I wasn't a big fan of the layout when it first came out, and I'm still not a big fan of the layout now. The new OTSRs do help slightly, but again, if you're having to worry about banging your head on a non-inverting steel coaster that should tell you something.

Busch Gardens:

We visited on a very light day, and our longest wait was three trains for Alpengeist. Power riding rules!

Apollo's Chariot was WAY better than my first rides earlier this season. Our second row ride offered three nice pops of air in places that offered none last time. Our back seat rides were a lot of fun and did have some very nice pull-you-out-of-your-seat moments. It's still not a top 10 coaster for me but it was a lot of fun.

It was certainly a great week, and it was nice to visit all but one of these parks with very low crowds. Thanks for reading!

[The Interpreter]

Great report and fun to read (and think about).

Did you ride in the front seat of a car on Kingda Ka? I won't even bother with the backs...I like the fronts a lot, but the backs jackhammer mercilessly. Also, I am glad to hear someone else say they get no air on that so-called airtime hill. In my opinion, that hill serves two purposes and two purposes only: (1) it slows down the trains, especially being mostly brakes anyway and (2) it serves to distinguish the layout from Top Thrill Dragster (though not very well...).

[DaveStroem]

I see we have another Bizarro fan. I feel that it is as close to coaster perfection as I have ridden.

[pkiboy]

I see we have another Bizarro fan. I feel that it is as close to coaster perfection as I have ridden.

Agreed. But how did that help your back o wait dont tell me its number 1 .

[gad198]

Did you ride in the front seat of a car on Kingda Ka? I won't even bother with the backs...I like the fronts a lot, but the backs jackhammer mercilessly.

I've only ridden this twice, once in the first row of the last car and the other time in the second row of the first car. I thought that the ride in the last car was much shakier, but it wasn't exactly smooth in the second row either. We just didn't want to wait the extra 30 minutes for the front row, but we may have to next time if what you're saying about the front rows of cars being better is true. By the way, any theories as to why they removed the very last row of seats from each of the trains?

I see we have another Bizarro fan. I feel that it is as close to coaster perfection as I have ridden.

Without question. You know you're in for a treat when you see the trains going over the hills that fast. The only real problem with having ridden this now is that it's all probably downhill from here! You've ridden the best...now what do you do?!