Colonial Vibes- silver2005's VA/MD trip TR and Planning

[silver2005]

So the day I go to BGW looks iffy. I had to choose between Sunday and Monday as they had a 4th of July sale and it only applied to the date specific tickets.  At the time, the weather looked similar so I had a 50/50 chance of getting it right.  Unfortunately, Monday, the day I chose for KD, looks to have the better weather.  The day I do BGW has higher rain chances, but I think I may have a few windows of opportunity to work with.  I may have to speed run BGW a bit.  I have Quick Queue which should help.  Tempesto is still listed as closed. 

All the PA weather so far looks nice, especially Wednesday for Hershey.  

[BeeastFarmer]

Tempesto , according to what I was told over the weekend, was going to be down for months.

Going on a 4th of July weekend, with a Saturday night concert, I thought was going to be insane. And the Midways were packed. But I never had to wait more than 20 minutes for a ride except darkcoaster. And it was insanely hot, so the ac was welcomed.  I don't know how much Quick Queue is, but I'm glad we didn't need it. 

If you have time, the indoor shows in Ireland and England are incredible.  Also, Burgermeister's Hideaway was a great experience, highly recommended if you have $60, 45 minutes and they are not sold out. 

[silver2005]

^I got QQ Unlimited Plus which ran me $180.  However, with the sale BGW did on the 4th, I'm getting in for only $70.  I got my HP ticket during a spring sale and am getting in there for only $50. 

I'm also armed with Fast Track for HP and I have all season FL for KD and DP (which I doubt I'll need at either, especially DP on a Tuesday).  

Also looking around VA Beach and downtown Philly for good restaurants.  I wanted to eat on the beach at VA, but all those restaurants are very much outside my budget.  Probably going to spend a few hours on the beach and walking the boardwalk then getting something NICE but within reason for dinner.  The weather for Saturday looks great. 

Tomorrow after I get to Williamsburg, I'm super close to colonial WB (I've done the tours before) so I will likely just take a relaxing walk through the area.  I can almost walk there if I weren't staying on a bit of a highway.   I can take normal roads to BGW if I want I'm so close.   I did print directions, but just from the convenience of the roads I have to take to BGW, VA Beach and KD, I may not need directions.   

PA on the other hand, especially my drive to Knoebels....  

I will say, my in-park food selections are pretty good this trip outside DP.  BGW and Knoebels go back and forth on being the best park food, I know HP's is fantastic from experience, and KD's looks really good. 

I'm gonna wing it more in Philly as that's the last day of my trip (after visiting Longwood).  

[BeeastFarmer]

Food...if you like seafood, check out Fat Tuna Grill in Williamsburg  We had a great meal there.

[silver2005]

The Quick Queue Unlimited Plus I got gets me FL like access to all the coasters except Tempesto, Invadr and DarKoaster, those 2 I get 1 time where I can bypass the line.  Escape from Pompeii, Finnegan's Flyer, and Roman Rapids are also unlimited access.  

QQ Unlimited does all that minus the 3 coasters I mentioned.

QQ normal just gives a one time skip to the rides under QQU.  

[BeeastFarmer]

We got our tickets from ACE/Tickets at Work partnership.  We got 2 days, Collective Soul concert Saturday night included, for $66.24.  $33.12 per day was a great deal!  Park food was around the $18 mark but they did let you have any size cup for ice water, not the small plastic cup you get at CF parks.  It might have been a fluke since it was miserably hot and humid.

It was my first time at BGW and I look forward to returning someday.  Highlights for me were Verbolten, Darkoaster and Lock Ness Monster.  Invadr took me by surprise in a good way.  Entertainment wise, Burgerneister's Hideaway was outstanding.

Have a great trip.  Auf Wiedersehen!

[IndyGuy4KI]

4 hours ago, silver2005 said:

I'm also armed with Fast Track for HP and I have all season FL for KD and DP (which I doubt I'll need at either, especially DP on a Tuesday).  

 

Our visit to DP, the ride operations were so bad. You need the fast lane.I saw KD was very busy today. 

[silver2005]

For day 1, I tried a Cook Out for the first time.  Its like a UDF and a City BBQ had a baby, its really good for fast food.  I also found I have a TON of pancake houses in Williamsburg.

After that, I took a walk through Colonial Williamsburg for a few hours in the evening.  Walked around the William and Mary college, then swung by the actual colonial buildings, got a lot of pictures.  

Heading to VA Beach today and seeing the ocean for the first time in forever today. 

[silver2005]

I miss Kings Dominion's Grand Carnivale by a day.  I go Monday and the last day for it is tomorrow.

[silver2005]

I lucked out, Tempesto is open.  Getting to 150 tomorrow at King Dominion.

[silver2005]

Busch Gardens Williamsburg is definitely in the running for being my favorite park up there with Dollywood and a good bit better than my former 2nd favorite park, Hershey.  Alpengeist and Apollo's Chariot lived up to expectations and Loch Ness Monster is loads of fun and is my 100th steel coaster.  Up to 143 heading into Kings Dominion.

[silver2005]

Got everything I wanted to do, and just got a temporary weather suspension announcement.  Gonna wait it out as it appears to be somewhat short.

[silver2005]

Busch Gardens Williamsburg Review

So today was very dependent on weather.  I got discounted tickets for a July 4th sale that I only saw apply to day specific tickets.  At the time, the days I had planned for BGW and KD were the same forecast, so it was a coinflip.  It happened to land on the day I chose for BGW, today, to be the higher chance of rain.  The forecast called for rain around 3-4 pm, park opened at 10.   The rain only was a short drizzle as most of it just blew over, but the park did close for about 30 minutes for lightning, though it kept Griffon down from that point on. 

Parking was weird.  Got pretty far towards the gates before they opened at 9:30, and it took me nearly the whole time until the park opened to get parked, the parking tolls were weird.  

I found out quick that routing Loch Ness Monster to be my 100th coaster was a chore.  A lot of the coasters are pretty spread out.  There is the train and a pair of sky lifts to get you across the park, but boy howdy on foot, if you want to ride a specific ride you're not near, you got a hike ahead of you.  I chose Griffon first as I wanted to save Apollo's Chariot for last.  Went for a counter clockwise route overall.  Some rides were a bit hard to find (Le Scoots and Invadr in particular).  The park essentially is a giant oval.  The major coasters seemed to have their own little nook as kinds of ride plazas.  The queues were weird on some rides that zigzagged and circled all over the place (looking at you Alpengeist and Invadr). 

Its very scenic as well.  Trees, foliage, and garden work everywhere.  It definitely lives up to being one of the most beautiful parks out there.  Its difficult seeing coasters not named Griffon from across the park.  The theming was top notch with each country.  I particularly liked the England entrance and France, Italy being not far behind.  I also appreciated some gaps where there was theming, but it left room for the park's natural beauty to shine as well, it was a good blend.  Most coasters had pretty decked out stations and queues.  Loved the music on the midways.  I've come to realize that French and Italian make good vocals for music.   France always had music that made it feel so chill.   Food and entertainment were pretty good, albeit the food was a little on the pricey side.    

I did say previously that BGW was one of the parks that would have a shot at topping Dollywood as my favorite.  Busch Gardens Williamsburg is a fantastic park through and through, and this isn't a knock on the park in any way, but I have Dollywood by a literal hair.  Dollywood, to me, has slightly better staff in that I see a more humanistic approach, especially with ride operations, the food pricing is better, and there's a charm that Dolly's presence brings that isn't at BGW.  BGW, however, gets props for being a little better looking, especially because I think some theming at Dollywood does seem cluttered at times.  There's a more natural flow to BGW aesthetically IMO, especially impressive given the different countries represented.   BGW definitely has the better entrance, too.  

Ride Counts-

BGRR, Finnigan's, Le Scoots, Escape From Pompeii, Invadr, Griffon, DarKoaster, Tempesto, Pantheon- 1

Verbolten- 2

Loch Ness Monster- 4

Alpengeist- 5

Apollo's Chariot- 8

Ride Reviews-

Busch Gardens Railroad- I think they're using a green engine and cars from BGT, as I saw the 2 more European engines and rolling stock on storage tracks.   Has a lot of great views of the park and pretty good placements of stations.  

Le Scoots- The interaction with Invadr and Alpengeist was pretty cool, and the drops, especially the last one, are pretty steep.  

Escape from Pompeii- I really liked the theming in the building, getting to feel the heat of the fire and falling statues and the like were great in relation to the event it represents.  For a shoot the chutes, it really doesn't get you that wet.  The building from the outside looks good and the water is very clear and blue.  

Coaster Reviews in order ridden

Griffon- I like the look of it over Valravn.  Blue and silver look great against the surrounding France area and the sky.  Its even bigger in person than Valravn with 10 across trains to accommodate.  I definitely prefer the older B&M restraints on a dive coaster than the vest as it gives you room to get weightless.  The little hop after the 2nd Immelman was a bit jarring into the splash.  I will say though, Valravn has the edge with the amount of elements and its slightly more forceful in other areas than Griffon.  Griffon blows it away in looks though.

Loch Ness Monster- By default, I usually don't have high expectations of Arrow looping coasters, but Loch Ness Monster turned out to be really fun. By far, the smoothest Arrow I've been on that's not a suspended coaster, which, given its a year older than Beast, that's very impressive.  I definitely picked a good coaster to be my 100th steel coaster.  The air is comparable to Vortex in the back, the helix is surprisingly good, especially in the tunnel.  Helices in tunnels just work so well.   And of course, you can't talk about it without mentioning the loops.  It is weird it has 2 lifts to accommodate the interlocking loops, but it just looks so good.  LNM gets a pass there as in the late 70s, they were still working up to the bigger sizes and its one of the rides that kind of lit the torch that gave us the booms of the 80s and 90s.  Probably the biggest surprise for me. 

Alpengeist- This is the most intense B&M inverted coaster I've ridden so far and 2nd in the overall B&M intensity list after Mantis.  The drop is actually pretty gradual, has a good steady increase in speed, but as soon as you start climbing the Immelman, the positive G's turn on and the first half is just element after element of intensity.  The cobra roll is taken a tad too fast as the half corkscrews really throw your head against the restraint if you're not bracing for it.  The last part that straightens before the MCBR is a bit abrupt as well.  The brakes on the MCBR are a bit hard, it looses a lot of speed for the 2nd half, though, that has to do with the fact its the tallest B&M invert at nearly hyper coaster status.  B&M built it tall, but the elements get pretty small after the cobra roll.  You enter the MCBR pretty quick and taking the later 0g roll and corkscrew that fast would be bad.  The 2nd half was pretty graceful with a semi-snappy 0g roll and corkscrew.  The upward helix isn't quite at Raptor or Talon status.  I do like Afterburn, Banshee and Raptor better.  Alpengeist has a little too much intensity.

Invadr- This is actually the GCI I like the least.  Part of it is the fact that it and Pantheon aren't themed along the ride or hidden in trees as well as the earlier made rides.  They just sit in big clearings and Invadr just has a lot of gravel and service roads as scenery.  The layout isn't that intuitive. It has decent pops of air, but there isn't a good big 2nd hill anywhere and it feels like a few spread out figure 8s.  The first drop has a lot of head chopping effects with the tunnel over the upper part and diving under a low service road. 

DarKoaster- First off, the capacity of this was bad.  I forgot to mention waits- everything but this and Tempesto were near walk on all day. Tempesto had about a 15-20 minute wait, but this thing had anywhere between 45 minutes to 2 hours waiting.  This was the only ride I actually needed Quick Queue for.   I really don't get the point of the train style, like maybe for an outdoor coaster, but not for an indoor coaster.  The queue theming was pretty good, but the ride theming amounted to a few lightning bolts and a screen at the end, not that great.   The launches and layout were fine for a family ride, but didn't really do much for me.  

Verbolten- This was pretty intense for what it was.  Most of it comes from the building, there's a lot of high g curves in there and the banking is pretty tight.  The drop track, while it can be gimmicky granted, I actually liked it.  Its a subtle scare that's pretty well executed.  A lot of it felt like it was running on highway rumble strips, a lot of vibration.  The launch up to the bridge was pretty punchy and the last bit was a nice way to end it. 

Pantheon- I think its a little overrated, but still really good.  The first launch is pretty powerful being its not the main launch.  I had expectations of it being a little more forceful and turned out toward the graceful end.  On the launched Intamin front, I give the nod to Storm Runner, though, I preferred Pantheon to Maverick. 

Tempesto- I've seen a lot of these Premier coasters pop up and they definitely give you a lot of bang for a smaller coaster.   Its short, but pretty wild with the twists, especially the non-inverted loop at the tail end.  Its surprisingly efficient if in the hands of a park with good operations.      

Apollo's Chariot- this is one of the coasters I had the highest anticipation for and it delivered in spades.  Very smooth, air time was between floater and ejector depending on the seat.  The first drop has the old school B&M pre-drop which works really well on a hyper to build the anticipation.   The back in particular it just yanks you down the drop.   The drops after it had a unique shaping which kind of made the airtime more forceful.  Drop 3 with the slight curve was really good.  I liked that the helix was spread out and didn't have too many positive g's, kind of allowed you to appreciate the speed.  The s-curve drop below the first drop was a really cool combination of airtime and lateral movement which it just floats through.  I like this better than Diamonback and Orion, but Nitro is a little bit better and Fury is god tier.  This is in my top 10 steels for sure.   

[silver2005]

The weather situation should be better than yesterday.  It was forecasted for a smaller chance of rain than yesterday, but now it's all clear today.  

Just gotta remember to lower expectations a tad from the awesomeness that is BGW.

[silver2005]

Kings Dominion is a better park than I remember.  The abundance of trees is a help, especially on International Street.  

I actually wound up liking I305, only a slight gray out and it's pretty solid from start to finish.

Twisted Timbers is definitely my favorite steel coaster in the park and my 2nd favorite RMC.

[silver2005]

Made Dominator #150.

[silver2005]

So most everything is walk on except Apple Zapple, Backlot and Dominator.  The woodies are only running 1 train per track.  Most people at the water park.   Of the weather I've had in Virginia so far, today had been the most pleasant.

Grizzly and Racer 75 are running really good.

[disco2000]

How about their Drop Tower, Eiffel Tower, Delirium, and show in the theater 

[silver2005]

2 hours ago, disco2000 said:

How about their Drop Tower, Eiffel Tower, Delirium, and show in the theater 

I was hoping for ET and DT but no mas.

Non coaster wise I've done Berserker, WindSeeker, and the flume.

Also, besides Backlot and the flume, FL has been useless.

[silver2005]

Currently doing Grizzly night ERT to end the day.

Yep, it's that good IMO.

[IndyGuy4KI]

1 hour ago, silver2005 said:

Currently doing Grizzly night ERT to end the day.

Yep, it's that good IMO.

I hope they restore the rest of the track work next off season. 

[silver2005]

^The only particular rough patch left that I felt was bad was the bottom of the drop leading into the low turn around below the first one.  So good in the back, too.

Racer 75 runs almost equally as good, and a similar spot for its one rough bit, the bottom of the drop leading to the far turnaround, but it REALLY needs a visual overhaul, it's an ugly ducking among the coasters there in terms of looks.

[Tr0y]

57 minutes ago, silver2005 said:

^The only particular rough patch left that I felt was bad was the bottom of the drop leading into the low turn around below the first one.  So good in the back, too.

Racer 75 runs almost equally as good, and a similar spot for its one rough bit, the bottom of the drop leading to the far turnaround, but it REALLY needs a visual overhaul, it's an ugly ducking among the coasters there in terms of looks.

Grizzly is amazing, although I also agree with @IndyGuy4KI they should do a bit more with it. It would be awesome if they enclosed the turn around below the first one and re profiled it by having it bank down into the next airtime hills before the break run.

Racer75 was pretty horrible to look at. Intimidator 305 too, looked a bit long in the tooth. Here is a photo I’ve taken of Racer75 when I went back in June:

[silver2005]

Kings Dominion Trip Report

I had some expectations going in as I did go there before in 2003.  The park didn't leave much of an impression under Paramount aside from Volcano at the time, and seeing what they did with Kings Island, already a great park even under Paramount, I had some good hopes.  It was a little tough readjusting my expectations after being at BGW the day before, but KD would put me at ease pretty quickly.

Obviously, there are comparisons to be made with Kings Island as the 2 are about as close to being sister parks as any 2 parks can get (maybe the Great America duo despite being in different chains and SDC and DW). 

I do prefer Kings Dominion's International Street to ours.  The trees and slightly narrower paths gave it kind of a cozier feel, especially at night.  I'd even go so far as KD's having a more intimate feel.  The fountain is simpler with 3 sets of circular fountains around a bunch in the middle of each that shot pretty high.   There was a more elegant feel to KD's fountain, especially with the trees and foliage around.  Also, its not just random trees, there's a bit of an artsy thing going on where each tree is kind of a center point with other things around to compliment the trees, even a few statues.  Its something you might even see at BGW with a similar feel with the way it looks.  Unfortunately, along with Drop Tower and Delirium being down, the Eiffel Tower was also closed. 

One thing I took note of is how KD's Eiffel Tower is really the only of the many 300 ft structures to be seen all over the park.  At certain spots, I305, WindSeeker and Drop Tower weren't prominent compared to, say, Orion, Fury, Power Tower, or Millennium Force at their respective parks, partially due to all the trees at KD.  KD's ET was a steady presence.  The areas outside of I-Street do kind of fall off in terms of that kind of aesthetic quality except for Jungle X-Pedition.  Old Dominion was a nice relaxing, quiet area with only the flume and WWC being there until you reach Grizzly more towards the main rides section.   Music on the paths was good, a lot of ragtime, jazz, and very easy listening music,  little to no modern music outside Planet Snoopy.   The music around Twisted Timbers with the 50's music juxtaposed with the TT theming kind of gave a slight Stranger Things vibe to me.   They really had the jungle drums theme music pumping in JX.    Its nice to see that area be more cohesive given the many themes it's had with the rides scattered (jungle+racing+aliens+stunt driving, good job KD ).  

Ate at Firehouse BBQ with the brisket, salad and cornbread and it was pretty similar to Coney BBQ.  KD had their own sauce which was pretty good.  Drink plan got a work out (surprised KD doesn't have a Freestyle machine unless I missed it or it was closed).  

I know we use kind of a tier system with the CF parks with KI, CP, Carowinds, CW and KBF in the upper echelon and we kind of put the rest in a group on their own, but I think KD is in a mid-tier between those 2 groups.  I feel its really, really close to eating at the big boys table, but I do understand why CF isn't giving KD much.  BGW is a pretty hard park to compete against, at least that's the vibe I got from locals and park staff, but the locals appreciate both parks for what they are though, they have their own niche (they both can point and laugh at SFA though).  However, CF has done wonders for the park since the Paramount era and I'm glad to see the park doing well.  

Ride counts-

1- Flight of Fear, Backlot, Tumbili, Reptilian, Apple Zapple, WindSeeker, Berserker, Shenandoah Lumber Company

2- Intimidator 305, Twisted Timbers

3- Anaconda, Dominator

5- Racer 75

7- Grizzly including LROTN

Ride Reviews

WindSeeker kind of has Carowinds' problems, not much to look at.  I've come to like looping ships and Larson Loops and Berserker was pretty fun

SLC- This flume has 2 drops, one about the size of RFYLCB, and the 2nd a little bit bigger.  A very wooded ride, very dense with trees that hides it well.  

Coasters-

Anaconda- This coaster comes down a lot to where in the train you ride it and when you ride it.  1st ride early in the morning was good near the back, 2nd ride in 1-1 was a little too intense and had that typical Arrow looper roughness, and my last ride, while in the back, was a little more unbearable.  The last ride had a very forceful shimmy at the bottom of the first drop and the track between the loop and sidewinder.  The 2nd half was equal between the 3 rides, the butterfly element was decent except the transition between the 2 curved hills, and the last bit was actually nice with the curve after, the pair of corkscrews with good hangtime, and the curved floater hill into the brakes.  It has some upside, but its also pretty situational in terms of ride quality, more than a lot of other Arrows or even other steel coasters I've ridden. 

Apple Zapple- this is actually my favorite wild mouse style coaster if only for the simple reason that it has some decent drops to it.  Nice poppy first drop and 2nd hill, and there's a few curved drops in the later bit that are pretty fun.  I preferred its colors as Ricochet though. 

Backlot Stunt Coaster- This has tan seats, so kinda fancy.   Rides similar to ours, though with fire on the sides instead of the explosion.  In a slightly less eyesore-esque location than KI's, too.

Dominator- A very good floorless coaster.  Also got my first ride on a standard B&M floorless coaster in the front seat and its pretty intense seeing the track move that fast seemingly so close to your feet.  B&M floorless coasters need to have 0g rolls though.  The elements it does have are quiet good still.  Tons of hangtime on that huge loop.  Very comfortable ride as well, the transitions were smooth.   I picked a good choice for #150.

Flight of Fear- KD's is WAY smoother than KI's.  Its not as lit in the inside which can make anticipating things a bit hard, but the smoothness makes it easy to ride despite that.  The queue has a Haunt maze in so most of the queue is actually the outer part and no pre-ride show.

Grizzly- Gravity Group made this a bit of a sleeper.  I'm not a fan of that first, slow turnaround, but the rest of the ride makes up for it.  The first drop is pretty intense, the smaller hops have great air, and it has great laterals on the curves. Better in the back for me.  Also, I wore my Banshee first rider shirt which attracted ride ops and enthusiasts, mostly KD locals, and they all nagged me to get a night ride in with KI having Beast (I sense a bit of jealousy there  ).  While Grizzly isn't quite as good as Beast at night with the more twister style layout and the flood lights at each end, it is probably the best choice for a KD night ride (no lighting packages a la Orion or Banshee to be found).  

Intimidator 305- I had nerves going in as I compare this a lot to Maverick and the fact I don't like those quick transitions.  I thought adding the extra 30-40 mph would hurt I305, and with how I can grey out a bit easily, that first turn worried me.  However, I only greyed out enough to get through the turn, only slightly, and I came to early enough to enjoy the airtime atop the 2nd drop.   Gigas are an interesting style.  I feel they should differentiate from hypers a bit by having more low to the ground elements to make use of those speeds.  But I also feel there should be a balance with bigger elements and some good air moments.  I feel Fury and MF get that combination right.  Orion, while good, seems too much like DB on steroids, and I305 has the opposite affect with its more speed focused course.  I did like it, but it was pretty short and having so much of the layout be just low turns holds it back a bit.  The transitions weren't as bad as I thought at least. 

Racer 75- This is running on par with Grizzly in terms of comfortability, decent air and laterals on the turnaround, but its an eyesore.  Hey KD, please take a book from KI's and paint this sucker! I do like the head chopping tunnels at the end.  

Reptilian- The only other bobsled coasters I've done are Disaster Transport and Flying Turns, both a bit different than KD's.  It was faster than I expected and had good positive G's, but the way the track is made gave it a bit of a vibration, made more so when it picked up speed at the end.  It also comes to a near complete stop on the MCBR, never a fan of that unless there's a ride experience related reason (something like Mystery Mine's holding brake). 

Tumbili- A little shorter than Joker at SFGAdv which I rode before this, but just as insanely crazy with the spinning.  I think I got a more insane ride than I did Joker, too.  

Twisted Timbers- This sits firmly as my 2nd favorite RMC and my favorite steel coaster at KD.  It has all those good RMC forces but with a little less intensity and jerky airtime.   The first drop has a bit more speed than Storm Chaser's while in the same style.  Still hits that 0g sweet spot as it rolls and doesn't stop until you bottom out.   Way better than its predecessor.  

 

[silver2005]

Getting a later start on purpose today.  I95 got pretty intense on my way back, and I'm trying to take it easy and avoid DC rush hour.  Gonna make a stop in Gettysburg on the way to DP.  Only planning on doing 1 or 2 rides on the bigger coasters, the flume, and their Dominator.  No mouse though.

[silver2005]

Made it to Gettysburg at a good time.  Stopped for lunch, about 2 hours out from Allentown and Dorney.

[silver2005]

So going to 11 different parks in 5 different states requires a lot of looking up and adapting to all the different policies.  Does get jarring pretty quick.

[silver2005]

The way I came in to Allentown also happened to be the route I will be taking to Hershey, and a good chunk of it was under construction and down to 50-55 instead of 65.  Giving myself at least an extra 30 minutes to get there.  

I'm also looking forward to my drive to Elysburg later, too.

[silver2005]

These next few reviews will be shorter as I've been to the next 3 parks and most of it is rehashing.  Hershey will obviously get a little more time with 2 new coasters for me. 
 

Dorney Park TR

This was kind of like my visit to Stricker's on the 4th, get in, ride the good rides once, and leave.  Rode Talon, Hydra, Possessed, Dominator, the flume, Thunderhawk and Steel Force.  Didn't even bother with getting FL.  Skipped the Mouse as its braked to death.  SF feels a little more intense than my last visit, Thunderhawk kind of lost a bit of its airtime but still running comfortably. 

I've also gained an affinity for S&S towers that launch you up the tower.

My 3rd favorite park awaits tomorrow.   

[silver2005]

So Hershey's Fast Track works like many of Cedar Point's FL rides, you skip most of the queue up to the station.