- June 30th, 2012, 4:42 pm
#49379
Instead of doing starting a new thread to put each trip report in, I have decided to just keep it all in one thread. I tend to procrastinate quite a bit and hopefully this will keep me motivated to stay on top of it. I will link to each 'report' at the top of this page here, with the most recent being on top. This - *NEW* - will be on the newest report. Hopefully it will move "up" the list, but it could also go "down" as well, might bring out some stuff from the past. 
(Don't get your hopes up)
==CAROWINDS==
[June 27, 2014] - Harmony Hall opening/Construction Update here
[April 12, 2013] - here
[May 15, 2010] - here
==2011==
[Sept. 4th] - Fun Fore All, Conneaut Lake Park, Midway Park, Waldameer Park *COMING SOON*
[Sept. 3rd] - Jungle Jack's Landing, Tuscora Park and Kennywood - here
[Sept. 2nd] - Memphis Kiddie Park and Cedar Point (see below)
==2009==
[Sept. 7th] - Six Flags Fiesta Texas - here
[Sept. 5th and 6th] - Six Flags Over Texas - here
[sept. 5th] - Frontier City, Sandy Lake - here
[Sept. 4th] - Sea World San Antonio, Kemah Boardwalk - here
[June 14th] - Maine Rain Out, Funworld Game Center, Canobie Lake Park - here
[June 13th] - Quassy, Lake Compounce - here
[June 12th] - Fenway Park, Six Flags New England - here
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2011 was a very strange year for me, in quite a lot of ways. I had a lot of things happen in my personal life that took up time as well as money so riding coasters was put on the back burner for most of the year. Finally toward Labor Day weekend all the pieces were being set into place for me to finally take a trip. It wouldn't really be much with my limited resources at the time, but it was enough where I could take (pay for) my brother(unemployed) to some excellent places that he had never been. SEE I'M NICE!
To make this story have an even stranger start, the night before we were to leave the apartment next to ours suffered some major flooding. Now this sounds like it would be unrelated but it started to seep into our apartment from that side. Furniture had to be moved out of the way, disaster relief people came in with their vacuum dryers and their suction hoses and large industrial fans and generally caused a very stressful situation. Nothing of ours was damaged, but the furniture had to be kept out of the way for many hours until everything dried. We didn't even start packing until past 10pm that night.
Fast forward to a very very early 3:30am, we woke up and were on the road for Ohio. Made some impeccable timing and made it to the Ohio Welcome Center right as they opened at 9am. I was surprised how easy the drive was.
Our first park of the day was to be Memphis Kiddie Park, which is not in Memphis, but Brooklyn, which is not 'the' Brooklyn, but a suburb of Cleveland.
Link.
I didn't really know much about it other than it was very small, very old, and had a credit.
Link.
Memphis Kiddie Park opened in 1952 and is basically 10 kiddie rides on either side of a tiny 200 foot long midway. At the end of the midway there is a Herschell Little Dipper (which we would encounter many of on this trip), which as this sign says, is the "Oldest Standing Steel Coaster in North America." According to RCDB this might actually be true.
Link.
There is not much to say about this ride. It goes around in a large oval shape, and is uncomfortable for adults. Whatever. (#578)
Link.
I had the bright idea for my brother to give some sort of sign or funny face to describe every coaster he was to ride this trip, this photo was the first and last of that idea. Way to go with the bit dude.
Link.
We did not lollygag long, as America's Roller Coast was a-callin', and were done with Memphis Kiddie Park in just under 10 minutes. Although some of my other credit-whoring adventures have come close, this is definitely the shortest amount of time I've ever spent at a single "park."
To see all my Memphis Kiddie Park pictures please click here.
Cedar Point.. where to begin. I first went in 2003 when I was a coaster-noob. At the end of my first visit I had a mighty coaster count of 84, and Cedar Point's 15 coasters made about 20% of that total. Top Thrill Dragster was new for that year, but not only did I not get a ride, I never even saw it test. Of course for the remainder of that year I sang the praises of Cedar Point about how it was my favorite park ever and Millennium Force was my favorite coaster.
The next year that all changed with visits to parks like Knoebels and Six Flags New England, and not only did I become cynical of Cedar Point, I outright bashed it. Anytime someone brought up Cedar Point I would quickly make a point to say how it "wasn't that good" and "highly overrated." Fast forward to now, where I had not only traveled around the country, but around the world. Eight long years later, I was a veteran, and the 15 coasters at Cedar Point now made up less than 2% of my total count. I had neglected to go back to Cedar Point, because why bother? What's the point in driving 8 hours just for two new credits? There were new and different places to get to all the time, but Cedar Point will always be there, not adding anything new or different for me, just being boring and predictable.
Unexpectedly and without notice, this feeling suddenly changed going up the causeway. Where my first view of the Cedar Point skyline eight years earlier was met with stunned silence, my brother instead unleashed a string of expletives. I knew *THE VIEW* was coming, so I didn't quite get the 'shock' my brother did, still I became quite giddy. I was finally excited to go to Cedar Point.
We skipped to the entrance gate, where we were suddenly greeted by maXair. I was kind of worried about how crowds would be, being the Friday before Labor Day, but they were totally manageable throughout the day.
Link.
maXair was new since my last visit, and had to ask my brother if he was okay with his first ride at Cedar Point not being a coaster. He said it was fine and we were on quickly. I had been on Delirium so I knew what to expect, but the power that this thing packs still shocks me. It's like "hey I'm up like 100 feet but I'm still going higher, and fast!" Really loved it, and as been beaten to death Carowinds would do well to get a ride similar to this.
Next up, right behind maXair..
Link.
I don't seem remember a single thing about it, except it was the literally no wait, to the point where the operators looked like they had been without human contact for hours. No wonder they are ripping it out.
My brother had never been on an impulse before, and just so happened right next door was Wicked Twister, which is one of my favorite rides at Cedar Point. It also provided interesting views of the new WindSeeker.
Link.
We were going to do WindSeeker next, but the line looked lengthy so we figured we could just come back to it later. On the way up to Top Thrill Dragster just the sheer size of Cedar Point came rushing back to me. Everything in the park is so much bigger than pretty much any other park. The rides, the buildings, the midways, its all just so over the top.
Something I never saw on my last trip, a TRAIN! ON TOP THRILL DRAGSTER! OHGODITSOPEN!!!
Link.
I was expecting the worse, line-wise, but it wasn't bad at all only 20 minutes for a back seat ride. In terms of the actual ride itself I knew what to expect having been on Kingda Ka, but it certainly wasn't much better. I do not get the hype for these type of rides. It's big and fast, but there is no substance. 25 million dollars wasted on a mechanical nightmare.
It's unfortunate I didn't get to ride this in 2003, as I'm sure I would have loved it more before I became a jaded prick. (#579)
Link.
Some of us were a little more jazzed about it though...
Link.
We continued with the coasters hitting Corkscrew and Magnum. I was excited to re-ride Magnum to see if it still packed its punch, it did not disappoint. My brother thought it had too much punch and did not enjoy it, much to my dismay.
Link.
I opted to do Paddlewheel Excursions next since I knew they were removing at the end of the year. It was a nice cool down from the day's somewhat frenzied pace. The kitcsh factor alone made this worth keeping, as even I was gotten by some of the gags (Look around for your seatbelt..) and the views of Mantis and Dragster were nice as well. RIP PWE.
Link.
Link.
Quickly continuing with the coasters we did Woodstock Express where we saw kids lick the railings, both sides of Gemini where I forgot how close those head-choppers look, and Mean Streak which sucked even more than I remember.
Next was the other new-to-me coaster, Maverick, which had just opened back up from some downtime, yet still had a lengthy wait.
Link.
To be honest I wasn't expecting much. I read all sorts of reviews since its opening in 2007, and most, if not all positive. Yet me, the jaded prick, was still skeptical. I believe we opted for a front seat ride. Also, this ride is impossible to get pictures of.
Link.
I freaking loved this ride. (#580) Everything about it Cedar Point departed from their conventional thinking to try something different, and for that alone I applaud them. The LIM-lift thing I swear I did back in the day in RCT and it works nicely here. The airtime hill was absolutely nuts. I'm a big fan of the mid-course launch in general, and this one was no exception, a great element that should be implemented on more rides. The Stengel Dive took me completely off guard and pretty sure it caused me to bash my head into the restraint, but that is also a good element that could be GREAT with some lapbars. (Goliath at Walibi Holland anyone?) The long line made sure we only rode it once, but I'll definitely spend some more time here next time I'm at CP.
Matt gives it the same rating at Little Dipper at Memphis Kiddie Park...
Link.
I was somewhat surprised to see Chick-Fil-A this far north so we stopped for a quick meal. we backtracked a bit for a quick ride on Cedar Creek Mine Ride and admired Skyhawk a bit. We would come back for that one.
Stopped to pet the goats under the Millennium Force overbank, one of the more odd juxtapositions I would say.
Does this kid have the same reaction to everything or what? Get some new schtick!
Link.
We passed by Millennium Force intending to do it of course, but it was strangely down. I openly laughed in my brothers face at the prospect of him missing the most iconic ride at the Point.
And another broken Intamin ride..
Link.
On to manufacturers who's rides work fine, though sometimes we wish they didn't, we hit Mantis.
Link.
It was another ride that was completely walk on, and I for whatever reason liked it a lot more than I remember. Following Banshee we hit Wildcat (RIP) and Iron Dragon, which I told my brother was a rarity these days given how many Arrow Suspendeds have disappeared in just the last few years. My brother wanted to do Cedar Downs so I happily obliged as they are also quite rare. Only a few credits left for my brother we hit Blue Streak, which was running fantastically. Cedar Fair get a lot of flack for the way they ruin wooden coasters (for good reason) but Blue Streak only seems to get better with age.
Our last non-MF coaster was Raptor. I was a big fan of this ride last time, but I remember not liking it as much this time. I can't remember why. This is what happens when you wait 10 months to write a trip report. Drat.
Link.
With all but one of the coasters out of the way we headed over to WindSeeker which still had a line. Thankfully to the high capacity we were on in the 2nd cycle. My brother thought it would be wise to wear his glasses. It wasn't. Everyone who's been on the one at Carowinds knows this already but the ride itself is nothing great, but if you even have the tiniest fear of heights it could become unnerving.
Link.
Next to WindSeeker was an exit for the park for beach access. My brother went all in getting about thigh-high in Lake Erie, while I just stayed on the sand and took advantage of the interesting angles of Wicked Twister.
Link.
We went back over to Millennium Force where it had re-opened and already had quite a significant line. We noticed as we got close to the exit platform that there were screams of horror and disgust. As night had set, the infamous Cedar Point muffleheads had set in as well. I actually wanted to ride in the front but my brother did not want to wait any longer and didn't want to be smothered by bugs, so I believe we settled for the 3rd row. As for the actual ride itself, what can I say about MF that's never been said? It's not a favorite of mine by any means, but its speed is just unrelenting throughout the entire course. I just wish it did something. The bugs were so thick on the island it almost felt like it was raining. Make sure to click on the "Link" under these pics to see the full size versions where you can see all the bug carcasses on my face and hands. It's disgusting and hilarious.
Link.
Link.
Just over an hour left till the park closed, we walked through the Starlight Experience (which is about twice as big as the one at Carowinds) on the way to Skyhawk. Took two quick rides on Skyhawk, which I absolutely loved.
Link.
We then went on to a few more flats with no lines, Wave Swinger, Monster, and Witches Wheel, the Enterprise. We passed by Magnum again, and I wanted my brother to try it in a different seat to see if he liked it more. We rode closer to the back this time and he really liked it a lot. Another quick spin on Magnum for the last ride of the night, and on to the long walk out of the park. Overall I was stunned we got to do every coaster and a number of flats, most with zero to little wait. I would say you couldn't have asked for a better day.
To see all my Cedar Point 2011 pictures please click here.
Map of my driving for Day 1-
(Don't get your hopes up)==CAROWINDS==
[June 27, 2014] - Harmony Hall opening/Construction Update here
[April 12, 2013] - here
[May 15, 2010] - here
==2011==
[Sept. 4th] - Fun Fore All, Conneaut Lake Park, Midway Park, Waldameer Park *COMING SOON*
[Sept. 3rd] - Jungle Jack's Landing, Tuscora Park and Kennywood - here
[Sept. 2nd] - Memphis Kiddie Park and Cedar Point (see below)
==2009==
[Sept. 7th] - Six Flags Fiesta Texas - here
[Sept. 5th and 6th] - Six Flags Over Texas - here
[sept. 5th] - Frontier City, Sandy Lake - here
[Sept. 4th] - Sea World San Antonio, Kemah Boardwalk - here
[June 14th] - Maine Rain Out, Funworld Game Center, Canobie Lake Park - here
[June 13th] - Quassy, Lake Compounce - here
[June 12th] - Fenway Park, Six Flags New England - here
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2011 was a very strange year for me, in quite a lot of ways. I had a lot of things happen in my personal life that took up time as well as money so riding coasters was put on the back burner for most of the year. Finally toward Labor Day weekend all the pieces were being set into place for me to finally take a trip. It wouldn't really be much with my limited resources at the time, but it was enough where I could take (pay for) my brother(unemployed) to some excellent places that he had never been. SEE I'M NICE!
To make this story have an even stranger start, the night before we were to leave the apartment next to ours suffered some major flooding. Now this sounds like it would be unrelated but it started to seep into our apartment from that side. Furniture had to be moved out of the way, disaster relief people came in with their vacuum dryers and their suction hoses and large industrial fans and generally caused a very stressful situation. Nothing of ours was damaged, but the furniture had to be kept out of the way for many hours until everything dried. We didn't even start packing until past 10pm that night.
Fast forward to a very very early 3:30am, we woke up and were on the road for Ohio. Made some impeccable timing and made it to the Ohio Welcome Center right as they opened at 9am. I was surprised how easy the drive was.
Our first park of the day was to be Memphis Kiddie Park, which is not in Memphis, but Brooklyn, which is not 'the' Brooklyn, but a suburb of Cleveland.
Link.
I didn't really know much about it other than it was very small, very old, and had a credit.
Link.
Memphis Kiddie Park opened in 1952 and is basically 10 kiddie rides on either side of a tiny 200 foot long midway. At the end of the midway there is a Herschell Little Dipper (which we would encounter many of on this trip), which as this sign says, is the "Oldest Standing Steel Coaster in North America." According to RCDB this might actually be true.
Link.
There is not much to say about this ride. It goes around in a large oval shape, and is uncomfortable for adults. Whatever. (#578)
Link.
I had the bright idea for my brother to give some sort of sign or funny face to describe every coaster he was to ride this trip, this photo was the first and last of that idea. Way to go with the bit dude.
Link.
We did not lollygag long, as America's Roller Coast was a-callin', and were done with Memphis Kiddie Park in just under 10 minutes. Although some of my other credit-whoring adventures have come close, this is definitely the shortest amount of time I've ever spent at a single "park."
To see all my Memphis Kiddie Park pictures please click here.
Cedar Point.. where to begin. I first went in 2003 when I was a coaster-noob. At the end of my first visit I had a mighty coaster count of 84, and Cedar Point's 15 coasters made about 20% of that total. Top Thrill Dragster was new for that year, but not only did I not get a ride, I never even saw it test. Of course for the remainder of that year I sang the praises of Cedar Point about how it was my favorite park ever and Millennium Force was my favorite coaster.
The next year that all changed with visits to parks like Knoebels and Six Flags New England, and not only did I become cynical of Cedar Point, I outright bashed it. Anytime someone brought up Cedar Point I would quickly make a point to say how it "wasn't that good" and "highly overrated." Fast forward to now, where I had not only traveled around the country, but around the world. Eight long years later, I was a veteran, and the 15 coasters at Cedar Point now made up less than 2% of my total count. I had neglected to go back to Cedar Point, because why bother? What's the point in driving 8 hours just for two new credits? There were new and different places to get to all the time, but Cedar Point will always be there, not adding anything new or different for me, just being boring and predictable.
Unexpectedly and without notice, this feeling suddenly changed going up the causeway. Where my first view of the Cedar Point skyline eight years earlier was met with stunned silence, my brother instead unleashed a string of expletives. I knew *THE VIEW* was coming, so I didn't quite get the 'shock' my brother did, still I became quite giddy. I was finally excited to go to Cedar Point.
We skipped to the entrance gate, where we were suddenly greeted by maXair. I was kind of worried about how crowds would be, being the Friday before Labor Day, but they were totally manageable throughout the day.
Link.
maXair was new since my last visit, and had to ask my brother if he was okay with his first ride at Cedar Point not being a coaster. He said it was fine and we were on quickly. I had been on Delirium so I knew what to expect, but the power that this thing packs still shocks me. It's like "hey I'm up like 100 feet but I'm still going higher, and fast!" Really loved it, and as been beaten to death Carowinds would do well to get a ride similar to this.
Next up, right behind maXair..
Link.
I don't seem remember a single thing about it, except it was the literally no wait, to the point where the operators looked like they had been without human contact for hours. No wonder they are ripping it out.
My brother had never been on an impulse before, and just so happened right next door was Wicked Twister, which is one of my favorite rides at Cedar Point. It also provided interesting views of the new WindSeeker.
Link.
We were going to do WindSeeker next, but the line looked lengthy so we figured we could just come back to it later. On the way up to Top Thrill Dragster just the sheer size of Cedar Point came rushing back to me. Everything in the park is so much bigger than pretty much any other park. The rides, the buildings, the midways, its all just so over the top.
Something I never saw on my last trip, a TRAIN! ON TOP THRILL DRAGSTER! OHGODITSOPEN!!!
Link.
I was expecting the worse, line-wise, but it wasn't bad at all only 20 minutes for a back seat ride. In terms of the actual ride itself I knew what to expect having been on Kingda Ka, but it certainly wasn't much better. I do not get the hype for these type of rides. It's big and fast, but there is no substance. 25 million dollars wasted on a mechanical nightmare.
It's unfortunate I didn't get to ride this in 2003, as I'm sure I would have loved it more before I became a jaded prick. (#579)
Link.
Some of us were a little more jazzed about it though...
Link.
We continued with the coasters hitting Corkscrew and Magnum. I was excited to re-ride Magnum to see if it still packed its punch, it did not disappoint. My brother thought it had too much punch and did not enjoy it, much to my dismay.
Link.
I opted to do Paddlewheel Excursions next since I knew they were removing at the end of the year. It was a nice cool down from the day's somewhat frenzied pace. The kitcsh factor alone made this worth keeping, as even I was gotten by some of the gags (Look around for your seatbelt..) and the views of Mantis and Dragster were nice as well. RIP PWE.
Link.
Link.
Quickly continuing with the coasters we did Woodstock Express where we saw kids lick the railings, both sides of Gemini where I forgot how close those head-choppers look, and Mean Streak which sucked even more than I remember.
Next was the other new-to-me coaster, Maverick, which had just opened back up from some downtime, yet still had a lengthy wait.
Link.
To be honest I wasn't expecting much. I read all sorts of reviews since its opening in 2007, and most, if not all positive. Yet me, the jaded prick, was still skeptical. I believe we opted for a front seat ride. Also, this ride is impossible to get pictures of.
Link.
I freaking loved this ride. (#580) Everything about it Cedar Point departed from their conventional thinking to try something different, and for that alone I applaud them. The LIM-lift thing I swear I did back in the day in RCT and it works nicely here. The airtime hill was absolutely nuts. I'm a big fan of the mid-course launch in general, and this one was no exception, a great element that should be implemented on more rides. The Stengel Dive took me completely off guard and pretty sure it caused me to bash my head into the restraint, but that is also a good element that could be GREAT with some lapbars. (Goliath at Walibi Holland anyone?) The long line made sure we only rode it once, but I'll definitely spend some more time here next time I'm at CP.
Matt gives it the same rating at Little Dipper at Memphis Kiddie Park...
Link.
I was somewhat surprised to see Chick-Fil-A this far north so we stopped for a quick meal. we backtracked a bit for a quick ride on Cedar Creek Mine Ride and admired Skyhawk a bit. We would come back for that one.
Stopped to pet the goats under the Millennium Force overbank, one of the more odd juxtapositions I would say.
Does this kid have the same reaction to everything or what? Get some new schtick!
Link.
We passed by Millennium Force intending to do it of course, but it was strangely down. I openly laughed in my brothers face at the prospect of him missing the most iconic ride at the Point.
And another broken Intamin ride..
Link.
On to manufacturers who's rides work fine, though sometimes we wish they didn't, we hit Mantis.
Link.
It was another ride that was completely walk on, and I for whatever reason liked it a lot more than I remember. Following Banshee we hit Wildcat (RIP) and Iron Dragon, which I told my brother was a rarity these days given how many Arrow Suspendeds have disappeared in just the last few years. My brother wanted to do Cedar Downs so I happily obliged as they are also quite rare. Only a few credits left for my brother we hit Blue Streak, which was running fantastically. Cedar Fair get a lot of flack for the way they ruin wooden coasters (for good reason) but Blue Streak only seems to get better with age.
Our last non-MF coaster was Raptor. I was a big fan of this ride last time, but I remember not liking it as much this time. I can't remember why. This is what happens when you wait 10 months to write a trip report. Drat.
Link.
With all but one of the coasters out of the way we headed over to WindSeeker which still had a line. Thankfully to the high capacity we were on in the 2nd cycle. My brother thought it would be wise to wear his glasses. It wasn't. Everyone who's been on the one at Carowinds knows this already but the ride itself is nothing great, but if you even have the tiniest fear of heights it could become unnerving.
Link.
Next to WindSeeker was an exit for the park for beach access. My brother went all in getting about thigh-high in Lake Erie, while I just stayed on the sand and took advantage of the interesting angles of Wicked Twister.
Link.
We went back over to Millennium Force where it had re-opened and already had quite a significant line. We noticed as we got close to the exit platform that there were screams of horror and disgust. As night had set, the infamous Cedar Point muffleheads had set in as well. I actually wanted to ride in the front but my brother did not want to wait any longer and didn't want to be smothered by bugs, so I believe we settled for the 3rd row. As for the actual ride itself, what can I say about MF that's never been said? It's not a favorite of mine by any means, but its speed is just unrelenting throughout the entire course. I just wish it did something. The bugs were so thick on the island it almost felt like it was raining. Make sure to click on the "Link" under these pics to see the full size versions where you can see all the bug carcasses on my face and hands. It's disgusting and hilarious.
Link.
Link.
Just over an hour left till the park closed, we walked through the Starlight Experience (which is about twice as big as the one at Carowinds) on the way to Skyhawk. Took two quick rides on Skyhawk, which I absolutely loved.
Link.
We then went on to a few more flats with no lines, Wave Swinger, Monster, and Witches Wheel, the Enterprise. We passed by Magnum again, and I wanted my brother to try it in a different seat to see if he liked it more. We rode closer to the back this time and he really liked it a lot. Another quick spin on Magnum for the last ride of the night, and on to the long walk out of the park. Overall I was stunned we got to do every coaster and a number of flats, most with zero to little wait. I would say you couldn't have asked for a better day.
To see all my Cedar Point 2011 pictures please click here.
Map of my driving for Day 1-
